


these roads intersect

by FlashThroughLight



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Android Gavin Reed, Anti-Android Language (Detroit: Become Human), Anti-Android Sentiments (Detroit: Become Human), Anxiety, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain Allen has a first name, Character Study, Dissociation, Gen, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Pre-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), References to Drugs, because everyone needs a first name
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2019-11-14 00:19:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18041852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlashThroughLight/pseuds/FlashThroughLight
Summary: The GV200 stared down at its hands, the LED now a bright red. It was spinning so fast that it just looked like a solid red light. "Why are you doing this? I called you an asshole... Told you no..."Captain Allen sighed and felt the cuts on his face stretch uncomfortably. He ached to scratch at them, but settled for scratching his chin instead. "That night... You protected me. So it's my turn to protect you."





	1. July 7 2037

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go~ My first time attempting a long fic in a while. Here's hoping we can keep it rolling! I have quite a few chapters written out already, so they should come out regularly depending on my buffer. More canon characters will show up as we go along, but I'll tag them when they appear. Also, I'll be updating other tags as we go, as I'm still writing, so keep an eye on those!
> 
> I owe all of this to the absolutely lovely people on the Detroit: NEW ERA discord server. Y'all feed my toast tendencies, enable me like crazy and keep me motivated.
> 
> Lastly, all the thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me. GV beta tagteam!

He pulled the helmet off, grimacing at the feeling of his hair sticking to his forehead. Years on the job and it was something Nikolaj had never gotten used to. It didn't help that it was a humid summer night. All of his gear was sticking to him in the worst way, but in the end, his discomfort was worth it.    
  
His team had been part of a large drug bust tonight and it'd all gone according to plan. Everyone did their jobs and all of the dealers at the site were being cuffed and arrested. Even some of the higher ups of the operation had been present, just like the DPD’s informant had told them. It was good to see that information panned out for once.    
  
But now Nikolaj was tired and sticky and the first thing he was going to do when they got back to the station was take a shower. Just long enough to clean most of the sweat off. Then he'd go home and soak in bath. Maybe treat himself to a glass of wine. He had some pinot grigio he’d won in a raffle a few weeks ago. A good way to end a long night.    
  
"Captain Allen. Do you require any assistance?"   
  
Nikolaj looked up and sighed. Really, he didn't have to think about who it was. Or rather - what it was. The GV200 unit walked up to him, its hand already out. The unit had been around the SWAT team for years now, one of the only of its kind still functioning, as far as Nikolaj knew. Since he'd been promoted to Captain last year, the GV unit had been assigned to aid him, both in the office and out in the field. He'd mostly gotten used to it, but it was weird having an android haunt his every step.   
  
Just so they wouldn't be standing around awkwardly, Nikolaj set his helmet into the GV unit's awaiting hands. "No. I just want to get home for the night."

"Anything I can do to expedite that?" the GV unit asked.   
  
Nikolaj rubbed his finger along the inside of his shirt collar to peel it off his neck. "Not unless you can write up the report for me, shower for me, and drive me home." If only. It sounded nice, but he never wanted to be dependent on an android. This one was owned by the SWAT team anyways. It only ever left the department when it came out on missions.    
  
"I can't really-"   
  
The android was cut short by a loud shout. Nikolaj looked over to see one of the arresting officers clutching her side as a dealer ran off, clumsily gripping a pocket knife in his cuffed hands.   
  
"Fuck!" Nikolaj cursed. Someone hadn't frisked the dealer well enough and now an officer was paying for it. He lifted his hand and barked out orders, sending two of his team to circle around the back of the building. Most of the others were either aiding with arrests or doing final sweeps, so they were all he had.    
  
Nikolaj ran forward, grabbing another officer before she ran off after the dealer. He was better protected with his SWAT gear.    
  
"Get her to the ambulances!" Once the other officer nodded, he dashed in the direction the dealer had gone.

He'd barely turned around the corner when he heard footsteps behind him. Nikolaj glanced over his shoulder and spotted the GV unit, still holding onto the helmet. "Captain Allen, allow me..."   
  
"No! You stay right there," he shouted and the android came to a halt at his words.   
  
It held out his helmet. "Take this for protection. The perpetrator has a weapon."   
  
There was no time to grab it. Seconds counted and Nikolaj kept running. "Go back to the van, GV!"   
  
Nikolaj turned around the corner and spotted the dealer hopping on his feet as he maneuvered his arms from behind his back. As soon as the dealer spotted Nikolaj, he turned and kept running.    
  
Once again, Nikolaj cursed the humidity. Already everything stuck to him more, feeling like it was clinging to him like a second skin. But he couldn't let the uncomfortable feeling slow him down. This one dealer wasn't going to ruin his night anymore than he already had.

The dealer rounded another corner and Nikolaj pushed himself to run faster, to lessen the distance between them. It only took him a few seconds to reach the corner, where the dealer was struggling to climb a chain link fence with his cuffed hands. Normally Nikolaj would draw his gun, but if the dealer was high, so was the likelihood he'd disregard the weapon completely and just keep climbing.   
  
So Nikolaj ran up to grab onto the dealer's leg and pulled, instead. The dealer clung onto the fence and attempted to kick out, but lost his balance.    
  
Nikolaj stumbled back a bit as the full weight of the dealer fell against him. He didn’t notice the flailing hands until he felt the sharp pain of the knife cutting into his cheek. He hissed under his breath and shoved the dealer up against the fence. The knife clattered to the ground.    
  
"Get your fuckin' narc hands offa me!" The dealer thrashed around, using the leverage of the fence to push back against Nikolaj's hold. Once he realized that wasn't working, he snapped his head back.    
  
Nikolaj turned to avoid it, but not fast enough to avoid the dealer's head completely. It hit on his cheek, right where he'd been cut. The strike threw Nikolaj off just enough that the dealer managed to turn around. The man raised his hands and raked his nails over Nikolaj's forehead.   
  
The dealer slammed into Nikolaj, pushing him into the wall of the building. He lifted his hands again and Nikolaj moved to block the hit when something dark struck the dealer in the head, causing the man to stumble to the side.    
  
The item clattered to the ground and rolled. As it slowed,Nikolaj recognized his helmet.

A body collided into the dealer next. A black uniform with a bright blue armband.    
  
The GV unit? Hadn't he told it to go back to the van?   
  
"Fucking android!" The dealer managed to get the upper hand and slammed the GV's face against the middle bar of the fence, leaving behind a blue streak on the metal.   
  
That snapped Nikolaj out of his confusion. He moved in while the dealer had his eyes on the GV unit and kicked against the man's knee. A sickening crack and a scream of pain echoed in the alley. It made the dealer fall onto his good knee, and Nikolaj took the opportunity to pin the dealer down on the ground, his hands trapped under him.    
  
"Stop struggling," Nikolaj gritted out, shifting to properly pin the dealer down. It took a few moments, but eventually the dealer went still. Nikolaj hung his head, his chest heaving in exertion.   
  
Plastic scraped on pavement, and Nikolaj looked up to see the GV unit picking the helmet up. It turned its gaze to Nikolaj and actually  _ scowled. _ "I told you to take your helmet with you, asshole."   
  
His eyes widened at the vulgar language, but before he could say anything, the team members he'd sent around the building approached the chain link fence. "Captain Allen, you're bleeding."   
  
"No shit, Veldtman. Climb over here and help me," he said.

Veldtman and Johnson climbed the fence and helped Nikolaj get the dealer’s cuffed hands behind him again. Recognizing that he wasn't going to overpower three SWAT members, the dealer let himself get dragged up.    
  
All the while, Nikolaj looked up at the GV unit. It was standing with its hands at its sides, Nikolaj’s helmet dangling from its fingers. Its face was similarly blank until their eyes met and GV scowled minutely before the expression smoothed out again. Part of Nikolaj wanted to think that he was concussed. No android ever made a face like that. Or swore. Granted, the GV unit was old, but it had never done  _ this _ before.    
  
Another thing that stood out was the long diagonal cut across the bridge of its nose.  It was dripping thirium and Nikolaj was sure that he could see some of its metal skeleton underneath. The blow must've been hard to damage it so much.   
  
"C'mon Captain. Let's get you looked at," Veldtman said as Johnson led the dealer away. "Get a move on, GV!"   
  
They started down the alley and Nikolaj glanced over his shoulder at the GV. It didn't respond as quickly as it usually did. In fact, it seemed to pause for a moment with a frown. But again, all expressiveness quickly flattened and the android followed them.    
  
Once they made it back to the front of the building, a paramedic hurried over to Nikolaj to check out the cuts on his face.    
  
"They might require stitches," the paramedic said as they walked to the ambulance.    
  
Nikolaj shook his head. "I don't want them. Just glue them shut and use those butterfly bandages."   
  
"They won’t heal seamlessly," the paramedic protested.

"I really couldn't give a shit right now." All Nikolaj wanted was that bath and the wine. He was definitely going to skip the shower at the station and head right home.   
  
Eventually the paramedic gave in and quickly fixed him up, warning not to get anything wet for a certain amount of hours. Nikolaj just nodded along. He'd been injured often enough to know the drill. It'd just never been his face.    
  
Once the paramedic let him leave, Nikolaj went to check on his team. All the perps had been taken into processing, and final sweeps were done. He looked around the area once more himself before he climbed into the van and slammed the doors shut.

Unfortunately, the police chief was at the station when the SWAT team got back. It meant talk and pleasantry and Nikolaj really wasn't in the mood. Still, it was unofficially part of his job description, so he stuck around to discuss the successful mission for a bit before the police chief patted him on the shoulder.   
  
"Good job out there, Allen. Take a few days off."   
  
"Thank you, sir." Nikolaj was more than happy to accept those. He made his way down to the locker room, which was completely empty by now. His team had already left for the night.    
  
His bath and wine just kept getting pushed further back. Nikolaj took his gear off, hung it up for maintenance and changed into his civilian clothing. The shirt was uncomfortable with how sticky his skin was with the dried sweat, but it'd have to do for now.    
  
Nikolaj slung his bag over his shoulder and exited the locker room.    
  
On his way out, he spotted a technician standing by the room they kept the androids in. She was inspecting the GV unit's face.    
  
He was tempted to keep walking, but the android  _ had _ saved him. "Can you fix it, Ris?"   
  
Larissa looked over at him, her heavily freckled forehead furrowed. "I don't think so. The GV200 is an outdated model. It's a wonder it still works as well as it does. There's a chance I can get a hold of a faceplate replacement, but I might just have to solder it shut." She muttered to herself about having to check the databases and wandered off.    
  
Nikolaj stood in front of the GV unit as it looked up at him, the blank expression quickly morphing into another scowl. "What is it, Captain?"   
  
"I told you to stay back," he said.   
  
"You wouldn't take the helmet. Clearly you should have." The GV gestured at Nikolaj's face.   
  
So he wasn't hallucinating. The paramedic checked him for a concussion earlier, but had cleared him. Had the blow done something to the GV unit? "Well... We match, so  _ clearly _ you didn't fare much better."

The GV unit's mouth fell open, but quickly closed again. A scoff came from it as it turned its eyes away. "Yeah, clearly."   
  
Nikolaj hesitated for a moment, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. An awkward silence fell between them, so he quickly cleared his throat. "Thanks. I guess."   
  
The GV looked back at him. "You're welcome. Maybe listen to me next time?"   
  
"We'll see." Nikolaj gave it a mock salute and left the room. He'd ponder over the GV unit's peculiar behaviour in the morning.    
  
But first. A bath and wine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look at Captain Allen in the gallery, you'll see that he has two scars over his brow and one on his cheek. 
> 
> Buckle in guys, this'll be a long one. Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts!


	2. July 12 2037

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I owe all of this to the absolutely lovely people on the Detroit: NEW ERA discord server. Y'all feed my toast tendencies, enable me like crazy and keep me motivated.
> 
> All the thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me. GV beta tagteam!

Having a few days off was always nice. Nikolaj didn’t have to worry about reports and planning and orders. Days off were even nicer when he didn’t get a call in the middle of the night to come into work for an emergency. Considering he hadn’t been called in at all, he could only assume that nothing had happened in the days after the drug bust. There was nothing on the news either, so he didn’t feel too bad about taking time for himself.

For the most part, he stayed inside, where he had blessed air conditioning against the humidity of the summer. Every time he stepped outside, the muggy heaviness immediately clung to him.

But Nikolaj couldn’t stand being in his home for days on end, so he went on jogs, did some much needed groceries, and ended up going to see a doctor about the wounds on his face. They kept pulling and itching every time he made any expression that wasn’t deadpan and it was driving him crazy. He’d been scolded at the less ideal treatment of the wounds, but the doctor prescribed him a salve to help them heal while also keeping them from drying out.

On the fifth day, Nikolaj made his way back to the station. The police chief hadn’t said how many days to take off, but it was only so long before he'd go stir crazy.

He swiped his card to get into the building and went to the floor his team was stationed on. When Nikolaj walked in, he was greeted by a few people, some who actually looked happy that he was back and others who were just…

“Shit, Captain, I think those are gonna scar.”

...well, Veldtman.

“No shit, Veldtman,” Nikolaj said as he breezed by and went into his office, chuckling under his breath at the other team members poking fun at Veldtman.

The office was nice enough. Not as big as precinct captains received, but big enough to suit his purposes. It also had a window, which was the greatest perk of his position. Luckily, the glass was treated and didn’t let in the heat of the outdoors. The small pleasures in life.

He was about a half an hour into skimming through his emails, triaging the important from the not, when Nikolaj realized he felt a little... off. He looked around the office and tapped his fingers against the armrest. Nothing had been moved. His windbreaker was still on the coat rack, the picture of him and his niece on her fifth birthday sat on the corner of his desk, the sad looking potted plant by the window looked as sad as ever.

So what was missing?

Nikolaj sat up in his chair when he realized that an occupant of the room was missing. _Right_. The GV unit. That was weird. It always greeted him when he entered the station. Had basically done that every day since he’d been appointed Captain. How had he missed something as obvious as that?

Nikolaj left his office and looked around the department, but didn’t find any trace of the GV unit.

Even when he asked his teammates, they said that they hadn’t seen it since that night. An uncomfortable feeling settled in Nikolaj’s gut. He wasn’t particularly attached to the android, but it _had_ helped him that night. Against his orders. Called him _asshole_. He’d thought about it a few times over the past days, but never more than a stray thought here and there.

Last he’d seen the GV unit, it had been with Larissa. Considering the GV had been damaged, it was likely she knew where it was, or, at least, what happened to it. Nikolaj took the elevator down to the level she was stationed at and asked around until he was led to her office.

She was poking at some kind of component, her curly red hair tied up as she focused on what was in front of her.

Nikolaj cleared his throat and knocked on the doorframe. “Ris?”

Larissa immediately looked up. “Captain Allen! What brings you to my domain?”

“I had a question about the GV200 android. It was damaged the night of the drug bust.” He motioned across the bridge of his nose.

“Oh! Yeah, I’ve got him down here with me. In stasis for now.” Larissa got up and beckoned Nikolaj to follow her, which he did. “There aren’t any compatible faceplates available anymore, so I soldered the damages shut. Contemplating if I should call one of my buddies to make something custom, but you know how picky CyberLife is with their tech.”

She winked at him. Nikolaj really didn’t know how picky CyberLife was, but he did know that the GV unit was one of the older ones around right now. “Why is it still here?”

“Ah, it was acting a little strangely, so I kept it around, but I dunno. The scans didn’t show any errors. Might be my imagination.” Larissa stood in front of some closed android charging bays and snapped her fingers before she opened one of them, revealing the GV unit.

Nothing about it looked different at all. For some reason Nikolaj thought _something_ would be different or feel out of place. There was the obvious damage on the bridge of its nose now, but, while that was new, it wasn’t quite the thing that Nikolaj was looking for. Maybe he’d have to wait until Larissa brought it out of stasis for him to notice a difference.

Larissa typed a few things into the tablet by the charging bay and stepped back. It only took a few seconds for the GV unit’s LED to spin blue, then it opened its eyes. “Good morning, Technician Okafor.” Those eyes turned to Nikolaj. “Captain Allen.”

“Step out of the charging bay, GV200.” She pulled the tablet off and her fingers rapidly went over the screen. “State your designation and purpose.”

The GV unit stepped out of the bay, its eyes going back to Larissa. “My model is GV200, serial number 107 002 936. The purpose of this model is to assist in the affairs of the Midtown Detroit SWAT department, currently assigned to Captain Nikolaj Allen.”

With the straight-laced words, Nikolaj was ready to write off everything that had happened as a fluke, but then the GV200 tilted its head just enough to look at Nikolaj through its peripherals and the corner of its mouth twitched. Like it was getting ready to scowl again.

“There!” Larissa point a finger at the android’s face, which easily smoothed out again. “Did you see that, Captain? A microexpression. One wouldn’t notice if they weren’t looking for it or very observant, but it’s there.”

“Ris… What does that even mean?” He asked.

“It means that this unit is displaying expressions outside of his normal set,” she started, but the phone on her desk started ringing. Larissa tapped the wireless headset in her ear. “Technician Okafor… _Again_? I just looked at the unit yesterday... No, the PM700 was fine… I’ll come up to look.” She started gathering up a few things and shoving them into a small toolbox.

“Ris?” Nikolaj asked.

Larissa lifted the box and grabbed her badge from her desk. “I won’t be gone long, Captain. If you can stay, we’ll talk later. If you can’t, I’ll catch up with you. Take GV200 with you, but I will come by to see him.” With that, she exited the office.

Nikolaj tapped his thigh with a sigh. It felt a little weird to be standing here without her around, so back up to his own office it was. “You heard her, you’re with me, GV.”

“Gavin.”

“Excuse me?” There it was again. The android speaking out of turn. Maybe Nikolaj wasn’t going crazy.

“It’s Gavin. That’s the name the previous captain gave me.” The android crossed its arms over its chest and met Nikolaj’s eyes. The scowl wasn’t quite there, but its mouth twitched ever so slightly.

Not a figment of his imagination then. “Why now?”

The GV unit - Gavin - shrugged. “Larissa’s okay, but did you see how excited she got?”

“Why me?” Nikolaj asked next. It didn’t make any sense. Sure, he wasn’t the most well versed in androids, but none of them had ever acted like this.

Gavin’s hands clenched on the sleeves of its uniform before it let them drop to its sides. Now the look on its face was reminiscent of confidence and even...cockiness. “I saved your face from being ruined even more. You tell me, asshole.”

His face was just fine. Nikolaj really couldn’t care less if he had scars or not. So many questions going through his mind. But which to ask first?

“Where did you learn to swear like that?”

“I work with law enforcement. Where the hell do you think?” Gavin actually chuckled at its own words.

This was all going over Nikolaj’s head. He had more questions that he wanted to ask, but this wasn’t the place to do it. Was there any place to talk with Gavin? Nikolaj shook his head and left Larissa’s office, not even looking back to see if Gavin was following him or not. It was a given. Sure enough, Nikolaj heard footsteps behind him after a few seconds.

He spotted the elevator and quickly turned to take the staircase instead. Maybe walking would settle his mind a bit. This was definitely something that Nikolaj needed to look at with a clear mind. Like a tactical plan. If he thought of this that way, maybe it’d help him. The stairs were a heavy climb. No matter how in shape he was, stairs were his nemesis. The burn in his calves felt good though and taking measured breaths as he ascended helped keep the rhythm.

Nikolaj felt a bit winded when they reached the third floor. He even deigned to look back at Gavin, but the android didn’t appear to be bothered at all. Right. Just because it was acting out of whack, didn’t mean that the fact that androids didn’t breath had changed. In fact, the android had gone back to its normal neutral expression, which didn’t quite feel right anymore.

The implications of that would be explored later. Nikolaj exited the stairwell and walked past the desks again to get to his office.

“Oh damn. The GV has a new scar too.”

“No shit, Veldtman.”

Nikolaj was thinking the words. Was even about to say the words. But he wasn’t the one that said it. He peered over his shoulder and saw Veldtman staring at Gavin with wide eyes. The android still looked as nonplussed as ever.

“What. The fuck?”

"Office, _now_ ," Nikolaj hissed lowly to Gavin.   
  
Meanwhile Veldtman had turned to Ruiter, practically waving his hands around. "The android swore at me!"   
  
"Veldtman, androids don't swear. It was just the Captain, as always."   
  
"No, it wasn't!"   
  
Nikolaj urged Gavin into his office and closed the door Suddenly he wasn't so sure how he felt about Gavin's new... personality traits. They were making everyone go nuts. Larissa, even poor Veldtman. This was way more than Nikolaj had ever bargained for.   
  
"Why did you do that?" he asked.   
  
Gavin walked around the office, like it was looking at it for the first time. It brushed a hand against the sad potted plant and frowned as a withered leaf snapped off. "Everyone does it. Especially you, Captain Allen."   
  
"Everyone except androids. Everyone except _you_. What the hell is going on with you?" Nikolaj was glad that he hadn't deactivated the opacity settings on his office windows yet. It would just rouse more confusion if the team saw him going off on his android.   
  
"Do you think I know?" Gavin actually glared at Nikolaj this time, clutching the leaf in its hand. "One minute I'm following you like I'm supposed to and keeping to protocol to remind you of safety procedures. The next, you refuse the helmet and I hear you shout out in pain and I wasn't about to just leave you alone, okay? That's fucking stupid. And now I'm here. You know about as much as I do."   
  
God, it felt like Nikolaj was arguing with his oldest nephew. There was this odd mixture of anger and confusion coming off of Gavin. It made the android feel so much more...human. If it weren't for its uniform, the android markers, and the faint blue glow to the damaged part of its face, Gavin could almost _be_ human.

Nikolaj wasn't a negotiator. That was someone else's job. He just told people where to go and what to do when they got there. Not necessarily the most people skills-oriented position. But he felt like he had to try because it sounded like this was partly his fault. Gavin now _felt_ , all because of him.   
  
"Okay. Try to explain what's going on." That's what people did. At least, it's what his therapist always did during their meetings.   
  
Gavin tossed the leaf into the garbage and grabbed the water bottle Nikolaj always kept on his desk. "I don't really know. It's like one moment I didn't care and the next, I cared too much. Still care too much. It's harder to keep my thoughts back as well. Like they just come out without me even realizing it."   
  
"So you don't have an impulse control now where you did before?" Nikolaj asked.   
  
Gavin shook its head. "I didn't have _any_ impulses before. I just listened to whatever you, or anyone else for that matter, said." It unscrewed the water bottle and poured it out into the potted plant.   
  
"Has this happened before? To you? Any other androids you know?" It certainly wasn't something Nikolaj ever encountered before.   
  
"Fuck if I know. I wasn't really on a need-to-know basis, remember? The only time I interacted with anyone was asking them if they needed assistance, or if you gave me an order." It tried to shake out more water, frowning as only a few more drops fell out.

Gavin set the empty water bottle down and started rooting around Nikolaj's desk, no doubt trying to find more. At this point, Nikolaj wasn't even sure if a bucket of water would save the plant. The android kept puttering around, opening drawers and even looking through the large wooden dressoir behind the desk. Nothing was there except for some old paperwork and other junk the last Captain left behind.   
  
"Can you stop that?" Nikolaj asked. The android kept looking around, sticking its head in everything it could. "GV, stop and sit down."   
  
"No."   
  
They both paused then. Gavin had ducked down to look through lower drawers, but its head slowly rose over the desk.   
  
Nikolaj mirrored the android’s shocked stare. "What did you say?"   
  
"I said no," Gavin said slowly, annunciating every word. "Quick, try something else!"   
  
Nikolaj was floundering, so he pointed at the plant. "Toss that into the dumpster."   
  
The scowl came back, accentuating the damage over the bridge of its nose. "No. All it needs it some regular water and it'll be fine."   
  
"So... You disobey orders now?" Nikolaj asked.   
  
Gavin got up from behind the desk, tapping its fingers against the wood. "I don't think it's me disobeying you. It's more like... Me deciding not to listen? I can _choose_ now."

"But you listened to Ris earlier. She ordered you to exit the bay and recite your purpose and all," Nikolaj said.   
  
"That kinda came natural?" Gavin's fingers were tapping even faster. "It felt like the right thing to do."   
  
This really went _way_ over Nikolaj's head. He couldn't even begin to fathom what this was or why him refusing his helmet caused something like this. But this couldn't be good. None of this could be good for Gavin. "You did the same that night. You listened and kept your head down after we got the dealer into custody. You acted like before when we were walking up here until you had to open your mouth around Veldtman."   
  
"Again, right thing to do. And you already pointed out the Veldtman thing. The impulse control deal." Gavin waved a hand in the air.   
  
"You need to go back to doing that around everyone else, Gavin," Nikolaj insisted.   
  
Gavin's fingers stopped and once more Nikolaj was stared down by an intense glare. The LED on its temple flickered between yellow and red. "Why?"   
  
"Androids don't act like that. They're supposed to be subservient and you're _not_. Not anymore. They'll send you to CyberLife." They both knew what that meant.   
  
He knew Gavin understood when the glare fell and the android let itself sit back in Nikolaj's chair. "Oh. I'd be decommissioned. Replaced by one of those models outside."   
  
"We were supposed to hand all GV200 models in when the PC200 and PM700s were released a couple of years ago. The only reason we still have you is because you’re functioning just fine..."

"And if I'm not functioning fine anymore..." Gavin stared down at its hands, the LED now a bright red. It was spinning so fast that it just looked like a solid red light. "Why are you doing this? I called you an asshole... Told you no..."  
  
Nikolaj sighed and felt the cuts on his face stretch uncomfortably. He ached to scratch at them, but settled for scratching his chin instead. "That night... You protected me. So it's my turn to protect you."

The LED remained red, but it was back to a gentle pulse. It wasn't a good sign, but it was better than it was before. Gavin didn’t look away from its hands. It stayed quiet for a while before it raised its gaze to Nikolaj again. "Thanks. What... Should we do then?"  
  
"I think it's best to keep between the two of us," Nikolaj said.   
  
"What about Larissa?"   
  
He shook his head immediately. "I trust her, but you saw her reaction downstairs. She might want to dig into you or something."   
  
Gavin nodded. "Maybe later?"   
  
"We'll figure it out, but for now, just us." Nikolaj pointed between them. It was weird to be colluding with an android of all things. Especially one that now that was able to make choices for itself and say no. "This means you can't say no to anyone's orders."   
  
"That's easy. It's not like you or your team ever tell me to walk into a fire or something." A small smirk curled on Gavin's lips. "Plus, when it's just the two of us, I can say no all I want."   
  
Gavin really would fit right in with the rest of the team. Its confident and almost snarky attitude would both delight and irritate them. But now Nikolaj was the only one that could see this. He had to keep an eye out. If this happened to Gavin, chances were it could happen to other androids. Nikolaj just didn't know how big that chance was.

 


	3. August 5 2037

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me~

For Nikolaj, adjusting to the new dynamic between him and Gavin was easy. When they were around other people, he just acted like he normally did, which was not pay much attention to the android unless he needed it to do something. Of course, that meant that he also quickly became more well versed in the different tics that Gavin experienced. He could tell when Gavin was annoyed when the android pinched the fabric of its pants between its index and middle finger. This usually happened when anyone made a flippant remark about it or shooed it away to get water when they made plans for missions. Luckily Gavin was getting better with its impulse control. There were a few times when it couldn't help itself, but at least Gavin had taken to muttering under its breath.

No one knew to look for it. Veldtman only kept an eye on Gavin for about a week after it told him off, but quickly moved back to his normal, obnoxious self.

Larissa was harder to fool. Luckily for both Nikolaj and Gavin, she worked in a different department and wasn't around them much. That first time she came up to his office to discuss the GV unit's behaviour, she'd scrutinized them both closely when Nikolaj mentioned that he didn't notice anything out of place.

Of course, it was Ris, so she made an excuse to check up on them multiple times for a few weeks. Sometimes she dropped in during lunch, other times she'd just show up after the SWAT team went out on a mission to inspect the androids. But Ris always went to check Gavin first. She was intuitive and it was hard for Nikolaj to lie to her, but Gavin was a master of deception when it wanted to be.  
That didn't stop it from practically melting down every time they went into Nikolaj's office by themselves.

"I don't think I ever really understood why you all go off on Veldtman like you do, but now..." Gavin huffed and walked to the table next to the sad potted plant. It knelt down, sticking its finger in the soil before reaching out to grab a pitcher filled with water. Where the table and pitcher came from, Nikolaj didn't know. They were just in his office one morning and he decided it'd be easier to not ask.  
  
Nikolaj made sure his door was closed and the window opacity was up. “We call him Officer Obvious for a reason."  
  
"Oh, I sure as hell understand that now." Gavin poured water on the soil slowly, moving the pitcher around to cover as much as possible.  
  
The sad potted plant still looked sad. The leaves were still a yellowish green and drooped, but new, brighter leaves had started to grow in.The plant itself wasn't sagging anymore either. Gavin had taken to caring for the plant almost constantly. Talking about the ideal humidity and the amount of sun the plant needed to thrive. It had even shifted the pot a few inches to the side and turned it for 'optimal exposure'. To Nikolaj, it didn't even look like it'd been moved at all. It was only because he saw it happen that he knew about it.  
  
"You'll get used to it," Nikolaj said. "It isn't any different than before."  
  
Gavin set the pitcher down a little harder than necessary and some water sloshed over the side. "The orders aren't different, but I am. It's just so flippant that it grates on my nerves."  
  
"If it'll help, I can be a little harsher on him next time around." Nikolaj leaned against his desk, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Gavin reach out with its sleeve to wipe up the water, then hesitate and walk over to grab a tissue instead.  
  
"It won't make a  difference, but... thanks." It wiped the table and the side of the pitcher.

Sometimes Nikolaj was at a loss about what to do with Gavin. It was clear that the android was the one that had to deal with the brunt of their decision to keep its...developing personality on the downlow. They both agreed that it was for the better and they were both _very_ aware how much it was for the better.  
  
Gavin didn't want to be decommissioned and Nikolaj didn't dare think about what that exactly meant. He'd seen Larissa's enthusiasm at the possibility of Gavin not adhering to its programming, and she was only a Cyberlife contractor with minimal tools at her disposal. What CyberLife's technicians would do? It wasn't something Nikolaj liked to think about.  
  
He could understand Gavin's frustrations. Only ever having an outlet whenever they had a moment to themselves, which wasn't always possible, had to be grating. Some days they were surrounded by other people and then there were Nikolaj's days off. He hadn't asked Gavin what the android did then, but he couldn't imagine that it was a lot of anything.  
  
Being cooped up was one of the worst feelings.  
  
Nikolaj watched Gavin putter around for a few more seconds before he made a decision. "Let's go out for lunch."  
  
Gavin came to a halt. It just completely stopped moving, as if it was frozen in place before it narrowed its eyes at Nikolaj. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I've decided I want to get lunch and it's a good reason to get out of the office," Nikolaj said.  
  
"You have lunch." Gavin pointed at the lunch bag sitting next to Nikolaj's desk. The one that he always had with him.  
  
"I've decided I don't want leftover lasagna."  
  
"You don't need me to come with you for that."  
  
"Maybe I'll swing by the bakery and get something for the team while I'm at it. I won't have enough hands to carry it all," Nikolaj offered up with a smile.  
  
Still, Gavin's eyes looked over Nikolaj, clearly thrown off by the suggestion. "I- Uhh... Okay?"

"We'll go now. Beat the main lunch rush." Nikolaj took his work vest off and reached for his hoodie.

The mugginess had gone down a bit, so he'd taken to wearing it whenever he went out. Plus, it was better than walking around with his work vest on. The only minor setback to taking Gavin with him was that the android was clearly part of the department. Its mandated uniform was similar to the one that the other police androids wore, but there was nothing they could do about that. All androids were required by the American Androids Act to be clearly identified. Nikolaj didn't expect anyone to come up to them. At least, he hoped nobody would.

"C'mon." Nikolaj patted Gavin's shoulder as he walked by. He knew he didn't have to remind Gavin to adjust how it acted, it was second nature for the android by now.

They made their way downstairs and Nikolaj kept an eye out to see if anyone would try to stop them. The GV unit usually didn't go outside unless it was on official business, but there weren't any rules against taking it out with him.

The most awkward thing about it all was that Gavin walked a step behind him. It would've been nicer if Gavin could actually walk next to him. Now Nikolaj kept looking over his shoulder at Gavin as they walked to see how it was doing. As always, Gavin's face was a blank slate, but Nikolaj caught it looking around like it was taking its surroundings in.

Had it ever been outside like this before?

Nikolaj would ask when they had a moment alone again.  
  
They came to a stop by a crosswalk. There weren't any other people around, so Nikolaj looked over his shoulder, meeting Gavin's eyes before he peered over at a sign. "I think I feel like getting a sub. There's this one place where you can customize what you want and they have this marinated chicken that's really good. Can't get it anywhere else."  
  
He caught Gavin's eyes again and watched as the android's brows furrowed a little before relaxing.  
  
It was a little strange to be talking out loud when there was no way that Gavin could reply to him, but Nikolaj had decided to take it out to get away from the stifling nature of the department. Being able to walk around was probably nice, but staying in constant silence? Nikolaj didn't think it would lighten the mood much.  
  
He was able to get a few more words in before they started running into more people. Just offhand comments about the places they walked by. How one chain store was his niece's favourite and the fact that they always went inside together when they were out and about. How the one restaurant had crappy food, but the desserts were phenomenal. Little things that most people couldn't care less about, but he hoped that Gavin would appreciate.  
  
Once they got back to the office, Nikolaj was sure that Gavin would have something to say about it.  
  
There were already a lot of people in suits walking around, likely grabbing an earlier lunch just like Nikolaj to beat the major crowds. A few passerbys paused to take a look at Gavin. Even if there were many other androids walking about, his uniform made him stand out. If there was one thing Nikolaj learned when he joined the police force, it was that people always stopped to gawk at anyone in a uniform.

When they made it to the store, Nikolaj placed his hand on the door handle and paused. There was a sign in the glass that prohibited entry for androids.  
  
He hadn't thought about that. The whole reason he went out was for Gavin to come along with him, not leave him standing outside in an android parking zone.  
  
"Captain?" Gavin said softly.  
  
Nikolaj shook his head and took a step back from the door. "I changed my mind. I know a nice Vietnamese restaurant nearby that has subs too."

Gavin gave him another quick confused look, but Nikolaj briskly walked by it. For some reason Nikolaj felt a little flustered. He thought that they'd just be able to walk in, get his sub and go right out again, but a sign had stopped them. Just because Gavin was an android. Nikolaj easily could have gone inside to get the lunch he wanted, but he'd stopped and decided to go somewhere else. Even if it would only take a few minutes for him to get his food.

Because this was for Gavin.

And that was such a strange thought. Gavin was an _android._ It didn't matter that something had happened to it to break its programming and make it act like a human. It wasn't one.

Which was the only reason why all of this was happening. Nikolaj had been looking forward to the leftover lasagna, but he wanted to go out for Gavin. He didn't know exactly what that meant except for the fact that he apparently thought their friendship was more important. Were they even friends? Nikolaj really had no idea.

But, in the end, did that really matter? They were in this together and they worked well together. That was really the crux of the matter. This outing would help Gavin keep up with the charade forced on him because of some shitty circumstances.

These thoughts were becoming way too existential.

Food. Food was the goal. Along with getting Gavin out of the office for a little while. Get the sub, go to the bakery, go back to the office. A simple game plan. One that Nikolaj would be able to follow easily. None of the stores he had in mind were anti-android, so they'd have no problem going in together.

Continue with the plan.

Focus on the plan.

Easy.

They didn't have any other issues along the way. Gavin was able to go into the stores with Nikolaj and they got his sub for lunch and some nice pastries for the rest of the team.  
  
Gavin even surprised Nikolaj at the bakery by holding its hands out to take the box and saying: "I'll carry that for you, Captain."  
  
Nikolaj thought that he'd have to tell Gavin to carry the box, but it was a sneaky little way for Gavin to show off its autonomy without anyone questioning them about it. It made Nikolaj feel a little better about his decision to take Gavin out of the department. It was just them out here with no need to worry about their colleagues appearing around the corner at any moment. By now, lunch time had arrived and everyone walking around them was more concerned with taking time off of work to look twice at them.  
  
Get the sub. Go to the bakery. The first two steps of the plan finished.  
  
"Will you be eating that in the office, Captain?" Gavin asked about halfway back to the department.  
  
Nikolaj quickly looked around before answering. "I was planning on it."  
  
"It's currently 76° with a gentle breeze. A very nice day," Gavin said.  
  
It was easy to catch the underlying meaning of Gavin's words. Nikolaj knew that they were close to a little green space, so he quickly turned to head over there. A small adjustment in the plan wouldn't have any repercussions. It would just take them longer to get back to the office.

There were a few people sitting outside, likely enjoying the weather. The few benches were already occupied, so Nikolaj walked onto the grass and sat down.  
  
"Set the box down and sit with me, Gavin." Nikolaj patted the ground. He made sure to phrase it like a command so no one would turn their noses up at them. They were a little ways from most people around, but better safe than sorry.  
  
Gavin gingerly placed the box on the ground before it sat down as well.  
  
Nikolaj stared unwrapping his sub, but he kept his eyes on Gavin. The android sat up straight, but its hands were on the ground, idly running through the grass.

"What's it like?" Nikolaj asked softly.  
  
"It's like..." Gavin turned its gaze down at the grass. "I'm not even sure how to describe it."  
  
"It's okay if you don't know. Words can be hard sometimes," he said.  
  
Gavin shook its head. It tugged at a long blade of grass and placed it in its palm. "Words are easy. The rest of _this_ really fucking isn't."  
  
Nikolaj thought about what they had to go through just to get Gavin to this point. Keeping their heads down for weeks. Avoiding their coworkers. Gavin having to hold itself back. Them not being able to go into stores together because of anti-android sentiment. Gavin needing to talk so unlike itself to request that they stay outside for a little bit longer.  
  
It was a big mess, but at least they were in it together and learning every step of the way.  
  
This was much better than Gavin being an obedient machine and just following Nikolaj around because those were its orders. Sometimes it was hard to think about what it was like before the drug bust and that had only been a few weeks ago. Nikolaj used to try and ignore Gavin's presence as much as he could, but now they were both in tune with one another. Nikolaj found himself very reluctant to let it go, which was why he did his best to keep that from happening.  
  
"This kind of reminds me of the first time my sister and I took my niece to see the ocean. All she did was stare out at the waves and we couldn't get words out of her for a while. We were pretty worried actually." Nikolaj chuckled to himself at the memory. "But she just turned to me with wide eyes and went 'wow.'"  
  
"This isn't the ocean, but I'd say it's pretty wow," Gavin said.  
  
"Yeah..." Nikolaj smiled as Gavin tilted its head back and closed its eyes. Clearly it had been a good idea to take the android out of the office. He'd have to make sure to do it more often now. "It's pretty wow."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment, I love hearing what you guys are thinking~


	4. August 18 2037

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me~

“All together the weapons seized totalled fifty-six firearms with thirteen handguns and forty-three semi automatic weapons. Most of which had their serial numbers removed. Only about eight of them were properly registered. Other than that, there was a mixture of improvised weapons, a few blades, three sets of brass knuckles, and one can of pepper spray,” Gavin listed off from its sprawl in the swivel chair across from Nikolaj’s desk. One of its legs was slung over the armrest and the other stretched down to the ground, so it could use its foot to rotate the chair.

Having Gavin around in this capacity helped Nikolaj. Their latest bust hadn’t been big, but it had tired Nikolaj out completely. The after mission meeting had completely gone over his head as he found himself unable to focus properly. Entire sentences flew by without Nikolaj actually grasping what was being said and his notes had been a mess. Usually he was much more alert during work, but he’d been running on almost forty-eight hours without sleep at that point. Practically everyone had been having issues keeping their heads up.

When Nikolaj sat down to write out his report and groaned at his sparse notes, Gavin had offered to help based off of its memory from the meeting. The android didn’t know exactly what needed to be included in reports, so Nikolaj had to ask for certain details and Gavin would recite them.

“Did the list include the types of firearms?” Nikolaj asked.

Gavin nodded. “Oh yeah. I assume you don’t want it verbatim?”  
  
“No, thank you.” He was quite certain that the exact wording was long-winded based off of the smirk curling on Gavin’s lips.

“You sure, Captain?”

“You bet I am.”

A soft laugh came from Gavin and it spun itself in the chair for several quick rotations, all the while launching into a shortened version of the list.

Nikolaj shifted behind his computer screen to avoid looking straight at Gavin as it spun around. Just looking at the android spin so fast made his stomach churn. Enough time spent in playgrounds when he was younger on merry-go-rounds, clinging to the metal bars as other kids spun the disk around as fast as they could, invoked the reaction. Even if Nikolaj himself wasn’t spinning around, watching Gavin made him feel like he was spinning as well.

What the screen lacked in width, it made up in height, so all Nikolaj had to do was slouch in his chair and he was able to mostly block out Gavin spinning.

With Gavin’s help, Nikolaj managed to finish the report in record time. The only thing that really slowed them down was that Nikolaj couldn’t type quite as fast as Gavin could talk, which was very fast when it was listing off things stored in its brain. And even that was faster than Nikolaj pouring over his own notes. All he had to do was ask Gavin to provide what he needed for the report and he got all the information he could want.

Nikolaj never thought to ask Gavin before, but it seemed like Gavin had done this of its own prerogative. “I really appreciate this, Gavin.”  
  
The chair squeaked as Gavin put its foot down to stop the spinning. “Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure Ruiter almost fell asleep while drinking her coffee. You were all pretty pooped.”

“Pooped is one word for it.” Nikolaj yawned at the thought of that night. The operation was supposed to be simple, but it had lasted well into the morning due to some of the perpetrators holing up inside a boiler room.

“I could find a list of synonyms if you’d like, Captain.”  
  
“Please don’t.”

“You sure? Burnt out, fatigued, tuckered out, lethargic… Oh, I really like enfeebled,” Gavin listed them all off anyways. It always took joy in going against simple requests.

“Enfeebled?”  
  
“Oh yeah. To make feeble or deprive of strength. Feeble means markedly lacking in strength or can be used as a way of indicating weakness--”

Nikolaj groaned out loud, ignoring the way that Gavin snorted, and he leaned to the side to look at the android, who wasn’t even holding back its bemused smile. “I get your point.”  
  
“I could keep going. The second meaning is quite fun: deficient in qualities or resources that indicate vigor, authority, force, or efficiency…” Gavin snickered in delight.

“Okay, you walking nuisance-”

“Technically I’m sitting.”

Sometimes Gavin’s breaking of its program felt like a godsend, but at least half of the time they spent together, Nikolaj wanted to rub his temples like his father used to do when he was a kid. He was pretty sure that it wouldn’t help in the slightest, but the action might give him a way to block everything out for a few seconds. There was always the chance that Gavin would use that as encouragement though.

Nikolaj didn’t want to encourage Gavin’s behaviour, even if he could laugh along with the android sometimes. As it was, Nikolaj was still Gavin’s only source of expression and it would be unfair and rude of Nikolaj to take that away from it.

So he just had to learn to live with it.

“Gavin?” Nikolaj spoke up.

Gavin stopped snickering, but the grin was ever present. “Yes, Captain?”

“I think we should get something for the team as a thank you for their good work. Any ideas about where we should go?” Nikolaj asked. Besides taking care of the sad potted plant - which wasn’t quite so sad anymore - and purposefully getting on Nikolaj’s nerves, the android’s favorite thing to do was to leave the department.

It twisted in the chair, bringing the other leg up to the armrest. “We went to the bakery last time, so maybe something different?” Gavin’s LED went yellow. “How does the team feel about chocolate?”

“Johnson is allergic to some of the ingredients they use in it,” Nikolaj said.

“Poor bastard. Humans really seem to like… How about some alcohol?”

“We’re on the clock, Gavin.”

“Some people here could stand to relax a bit!” Gavin protested. It crossed its arms over its chest and tapped its elbow. “Fine. How about some fresh fruit? Healthy and a wide enough variety for everyone to have something they like.”

It would probably get a lot of groans, but Nikolaj knew most of the team weren’t picky eaters. As far as he knew, there weren’t any allergies either. Maybe they could get the fruit and slice it up in the communal kitchen on this floor. Nikolaj was sure that others would appreciate something fresh as well.

There was a knock at his door and both Nikolaj and Gavin turned to look at it. Gavin practically leapt out of its chair, landing deftly before hopping over the end of the desk to stand behind Nikolaj. It was only when Gavin was out of sight that Nikolaj spoke up. “Come in.”

“Captain, the guys and I were wondering if…” Ruiter popped her head into the office and trailed off. Her eyes went from Nikolaj to a point behind him. His heart leapt in his throat. “What’s the GV unit still doing here?”

Nikolaj breathed in through his nose in an attempt to slow his heartbeat. “What do you mean?”

“Did you forget the memo? All androids go down for maintenance today.” She pointed at Gavin.

A wave of relief went through Nikolaj. For a second he thought that they’d been made. Now that he knew that hadn’t happened, he relaxed and waved a hand in dismissal. “Right, slipped my mind is all. I’ll send it down when I finish with everything. What did you need?”

“You up for hitting the bar tonight? SWAT team from East is planning to go as well,” Ruiter said. “They wanted to give the place a heads up since we’re a big group.”

“Sounds good to me. We all deserve it,” Nikolaj said.

Ruiter winked at Nikolaj. “Cool. I’ll let them know you’re in.” She stepped back and closed the door.

“Thank god.” Nikolaj slouched in his chair and scratched his cheek. The new scar was mostly healed by now, but it was starting to become a habit of his to scratch at it.

“Thank god? There’s nothing to thank!” Gavin hissed lowly, grabbing onto the back of Nikolaj’s chair and spinning it so they were facing each other. “Do you know what this means?”

The LED at Gavin’s temple was red and it made Nikolaj pause. Then Gavin’s worry clicked. “I don’t think we need to worry about maintenance. When Ris checked you over, she said all your systems were functioning normally.”

“That was the night after all this shit happened. It’s been over a month at this point, Nikolaj. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve come a long way from that night.” Gavin’s eyes flicked back and forth, the worry clear on its face.

It was also the first time that Gavin said Nikolaj’s name instead of calling him “Captain”. If that wasn’t a testament to how out of sorts the android was, Nikolaj didn’t know. “Gavin, it’ll be _fine_. It’s just a quick check. You’ll be back before the end of the day. They’re not going to dig around in there if you don’t give them cause to.” He reached up and poked Gavin’s forehead.

Gavin scowled and swatted Nikolaj’s hand away. “How do you know for sure?”

“Because I know _you_. You can do this. Like you said, it’s been weeks and no one suspects a thing,” Nikolaj said. Even Larissa had taken a step back from her initial interest.

“You don’t know that. What if they do something and I break character? Or my LED flashes the wrong colour in response? They’ll notice. That’s their job.” Gavin’s LED was going nuts, so red that looking at it made Nikolaj feel like he was looking at a laser.

Nikolaj pushed himself up and grabbed Gavin’s forearms, immediately noticing that the android was shaking. “Gavin, you look at me.” When the android didn’t respond, Nikolaj raised his voice slightly. “GV200, look at me.” The stern tone made Gavin jolt, but it looked up at Nikolaj. “You’ll be fine. You’re going to walk down to the technicians, they’re going to check you over and clear you, and you send me a message when you’re done. I’ll make sure to meet you down there and we’ll go get the fruit you were talking about. Okay?”

“O-okay…” Gavin’s voice wavered.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, Captain. You’re right. You have to be right…” The LED pulsed red once more before a blip of yellow appeared and slowly took over with each rotation.

It felt wrong to order Gavin like this, but Nikolaj knew he had to do it to snap Gavin out of its thoughts. If the android went in with doubts in its mind, then the chance that it was going to slip up was much higher. They couldn’t have that. Not after everything they’d done to keep this between them. Nikolaj wasn’t going to give up on it just yet, so he had to make sure that Gavin knew that.

“What are you going to do, Gavin?”

“I’m going to go downstairs, get through the maintenance, message you when I’m done, and then we’re getting fruit for the team,” Gavin repeated. Its voice still wavered a little, but nowhere near as much as it did only a few seconds ago.

Nikolaj loosened his grip and patted Gavin’s shoulders. He was happy to see that the LED was transitioning from yellow to blue. “That’s right. We’ll get through this and continue on our merry way.”

“I’m not sure if you’re ever merry,” Gavin joked, actually letting out a soft huff.

“You’ve only ever seen me at work. I can be merry if I want to.” He stepped back. “You ready to go now?”

“Yeah, I’m good to go.” Gavin walked over to the door. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

Nikolaj sat back down. “See you soon.” He watched as Gavin closed its eyes for a second, every little bit of personality disappearing behind a blank slate. When Gavin opened its eyes again, it opened the door and left.

Once Gavin was gone, Nikolaj leaned forward and ran his hands over his face. Luckily, he’d been confident enough to convince Gavin that everything was going to go off without a hitch.

Now he just needed to convince himself of that.

He actually had no idea how android maintenance worked. For all he knew, they were going to do very comprehensive tests. Even more so than the ones Larissa had done. What then? Would they be able to detect discrepancies in Gavin?

Unfortunately, only time would tell. Nikolaj set his work phone on the desk next to him and turned the ringer up to high. When Gavin messaged him, Nikolaj was sure that he’d all but bolt down to meet the android to make sure everything had gone well. At the very least, Nikolaj would know that everything was all right if he received a message.

As Nikolaj tried to find some work to keep himself occupied, he realized that they’d never actually talked about what would happen if anyone actually found out that Gavin had somehow broken out of his programming. All this time they made plans about what they were going to do to keep people from figuring it out, but never discussed the possibility of the worst case scenario. No wonder Gavin had been so out of sorts. It probably thought that would be the end of it. That it would be sent back to CyberLife and decommissioned.

Nikolaj had come up with a plan without an exit strategy.

What an oversight. Such a large one that it could completely ruin everything that Nikolaj and Gavin tried so hard to set up. No plan was complete unless there was a viable way out. He couldn’t believe that he’d made such a huge mistake. If something happened to Gavin, then it was partially going to be his fault. Most likely, it would be all Nikolaj’s fault. As a senior officer, he should know better.

Nikolaj cursed to himself as he pulled out his personal phone and opened the notepad app. While Gavin was gone, he’d come up with a few different ideas to discuss with the android. Now Nikolaj hoped they would actually have the chance to talk about all of this.

Time ticked by slowly. Nikolaj might’ve found a way to distract himself, but that didn’t keep him from looking at the time whenever he felt like he hadn’t checked in a while. Sometimes only a few minutes would have gone by, but other times it had been close to an hour. He’d never paid attention to how long android maintenance was before. Gavin used to leave and then come back whenever.

He was going over the third iteration of Exit Strategy D when his work phone started ringing and buzzed obnoxiously on his desk. Nikolaj picked it up and laughed when he saw the message.

                _ <GV200>: come pick me up, asshole _

Must’ve gone well. Nikolaj grabbed his hoodie and slipped it on as he left his office at a brisk pace. He hurried down the stairs, almost slipping in his haste.

 


	5. August 18 2037 Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin needs to go down for maintenance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Please note the updated tags**  
> 
> This is the same day as the previous chapter. Nikolaj and Gavin have been in their little bubble, but the world around them hasn't changed. 
> 
> Thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me~

Gavin found that it was much more amusing now that he was able to watch the humans around him as they went through their workday. It was one thing to accompany them on their missions where they worked as a well-oiled team thanks to the guidance of Captain Allen, but it was another thing entirely to watch them putter around the office, especially when they were tired.

He’d seen them lazing around without anything to do and using the time to poke fun at one another. However, he’d never seen them to the point where they were completely exhausted.

It made him feel disappointed that there was no way for him to directly help them, even if he knew that it was for the better.

But he knew that he could help by doing the one thing that they couldn’t do, which was pay attention during a long-winded debriefing. Gavin already took note of the slouch in Captain Allen’s posture, the way his feet dragged over the floor and how he ducked his head to rub at the back of his neck. He’d seen it before, multiple times even, ever since Captain Allen had been promoted when the previous captain retired. Except now he was able to do something about it.

Gavin stood a few feet behind Captain Allen in the debriefing room, as always, and he saw how slow the man was writing--the consequence being that he wasn’t able to write down the kind of information that he usually did. Through experience, Gavin knew that it would lead to a stressful time. It would prompt long hours in front of the computer, wandering around the department to gather pertinent information, and an excess amount of saltine crackers that Captain Allen kept in his desk drawer. This caused undue stress on the captain and the other team members.

So Gavin did the one thing he could in this situation: listened closely, and created a transcript of the entire debriefing. It took up a laughably small amount of his processing power and he could still look around at all the human occupants of the room. With their attention at the front, none of them would look back where the androids were stationed. Gavin didn’t have to worry about any of the noticing that his eyes wandered.

Johnson doodled on his notepad at Captain Allen’s elbow. From his angle, Gavin could see that it was a pretty intricate representation of a small bird. A quick search told him that it was an American Goldfinch.

Sitting at the corner of the large table was Ruiter, who was nursing a rather large travel mug of coffee. She slouched in her chair, holding the mug close and periodically blowing at the hot beverage before taking a sip. Roughly every thirteen seconds her eyes began to slip shut, which resulted in her chin bumping against the rim of the mug. Luckily no one appeared to notice and it kept her mostly awake.

Next to her was Veldtman who was, surprisingly, the most alert. He took notes in the chicken scratch that he called handwriting, but he was the only one that could interpret it. As obnoxious as the man could be sometimes, he certainly was attentive when it was necessary.

After the meeting, the humans happily shuffled out, eager to rest for the day. Gavin wanted to speak with Captain Allen, but he didn’t want to keep him from getting home. It sucked that he would be left alone in the office for a day, not even able to observe the team from a distance.

Stasis was the simple solution. In a way, it was kind of like sleeping for androids. He’d asked Captain Allen about it before, wondering what it was like. The man had explained that sometimes he closed his eyes one moment and the next he opened them, hours had passed. 

While Gavin didn’t like stepping into a cramped cubby, he knew from experience now that it was infinitely better than being _bored_.

Boredom was the absolute worst thing.

Even worse than having to act like a subservient android around everyone that wasn’t Captain Allen.

He quickly discovered that he hated being idle. It was different when he was watching a debriefing or the SWAT team interact with one another. Gavin had spent enough nights in Captain Allen’s office while waiting for the team to return for their shift. Tending for the _C. cateracterum_ plant only took up so much of his time and, while Gavin was pleased with the progress he’d made with it, the most labour intensive care had already been taken care of. All he really had left was making sure that it got water when it was required.

Even spending time on Captain Allen’s computer was boring. His password was easy. The man spoke about his young niece often enough that Gavin, within a few variations of her name and related phrases, was in. The games that were installed held his interest for a little bit, but soon Gavin figured out how to beat all of them, which ruined the entertainment value. He didn’t dare search for anything else either, because he wasn’t sure how much activity was monitored. So far, no one had poked around enough to ask why Captain Allen was logged into his computer at 3 am in the morning when he was supposed to be back home, and Gavin wanted to keep it that way.

Captain Allen sacrificed so much for Gavin that he knew there was no way he’d ever betray the man.

He owned everything to Captain Allen at this point. For not turning his nose up when Gavin talked back to him, or dragging him down to the technicians to see what was wrong with him.

Gavin knew he was abrasive. He might’ve been a complete blank slate before, but he knew that he was a bit of an asshole. It was always a surprise when Captain Allen put up with his shit. Too often, he’d open his impulsive mouth and his thirium pump would quicken. Sometimes to the point where an error popped up on his HUD. It was a relief that Gavin figured out how to manipulate his LED early on. Otherwise all Captain Allen would see would be red, and the man was sharp enough to figure out what that meant.

Gavin was grateful. So much so that sometimes he struggled to find the words to properly thank Captain Allen. When they went out on their first walk, everything had changed. It was unlikely that Captain Allen knew what an impact it really had on Gavin, but it had meant the world to him.

The way Captain Allen hesitated in front of the android-restricted restaurant. How Captain Allen appeared genuinely surprised whenever Gavin offered to do something simple like carrying the box from the bakery. The way he’d caught onto Gavin’s unspoken words and led them to sit down on the grass. The easy acceptance of Gavin’s speechlessness.

Gavin was lucky. Extremely so.

If he’d broken from his programming around anyone else, that would’ve been it. Instant decommissioning. Whatever went on inside him would be seen as an error, a _mistake_.

Gavin couldn’t see how it could be a mistake.

What harm came from it? Was he hurting anyone by taking care of Captain Allen’s dying plant? Was it wrong of him to drag unused furniture into the office to use for his own purposes? Was it against any fundamental rules that he sat in the grass and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on his synthetic skin?

Captain Allen clearly didn’t think so and the man was an officer of the law, an accomplished one at that. Not just anyone would be able to get in the leading position of a SWAT team. Or be as respected. Gavin remembered the previous captain of this department and, while he had been a good man as well, he was vastly different from Captain Allen.

Many nights had already been spent reminiscing on the times before and how everything had changed. So many different possibilities had gone through Gavin’s mind. He knew that he could easily come up with an infinite amount if he tried hard enough. However, nothing would ever come of it.

Hypotheticals about the past meant nothing. Speculation of the future only served to worry him.

So, that night, he decided to return to his station and go into stasis.

Stasis was quick. Powering down - until the first team members came up to the department’s floor - passed by like it was nothing. Gavin stepped away from his charging station and walked between the desks to Captain Allen’s office. None of the humans took notice of him, either still setting up for the day or so used to him being around that there was no reason to question him.

It didn’t take long for Captain Allen to come in. He was wearing a thicker hoodie this time around - and a cursory search brought up the weather for Gavin and told him it was seven degrees colder than the day before - and he went through the same steps as he did every time he arrived. First his lunch box went next to the desk, then his outerwear was swapped out with the vest he wore in the office, and after that, he put his water bottle on the desk and looked up at Gavin.

There were still bags under his eyes, darker than usual. It would likely take a few days of proper rest for those to fade. But the man still smiled at Gavin, as he did every he came into work since they’d been thrust into this unexpected dynamic. “Morning, Gavin.”

“Good morning, Captain Allen.” It was the same greeting that Gavin was programmed to say, but now he got to say it the way that he wanted. Put inflection where he wanted. Smile back at Captain Allen. Mix the phrase up a little every so often. A simple freedom that pleased him.

As Captain Allen sat down and turned to his computer, Gavin checked the plant and, once he deemed the soil wetness was ideal, he pushed his latest acquisition, a rolling chair, over to the desk.

Captain Allen already had his notebook on the table and squinted at it. No doubt he was displeased by the sparse notes he’d taken.

Gavin sat down in the chair. He tried to sit properly at first, before deciding that he didn’t want to. He slung a leg over one of the armrests, instead. After that, he decided to watch Captain Allen stew. While Gavin had transcribed most of the meeting to help him with his report, letting him sweat a little was good. This was minor, so Gavin didn’t feel too bad for holding back information for now.

The relief on Captain Allen’s face when Gavin caved and offered to help him recall some of the details made Gavin feel a little guilty, but also good that he could help in a way he couldn’t before.

They quickly set up a system. Captain Allen would ask a question and Gavin went through the transcript and tell him the most important details. Anything that would be useful for a report. He didn’t quite know what went into them, but it was rare that Captain Allen needed to ask for additional details, so what Gavin was telling him had to be the right information.

One moment they were conversing in what Gavin decided was friendly banter and the next there was a knock at the door. Gavin scrambled out of the chair, stilling it with a simple touch and hopped over the end of the desk to come to a stop behind Captain Allen.

Ruiter leaned into the room and her eyes went to Gavin when she spotted him. “What’s the GV unit still doing here?”

What kind of a question was that? From her tone, it wasn’t any form of derision, but Gavin’s stress levels immediately hiked up.

60%

He heard Captain Allen breathing in through his nose. “What do you mean?”

“Did you forget the memo? All androids go down for maintenance today.” Ruiter pointed at Gavin.

Everything around Gavin went quiet. As if the bubble he existed in shrunk to the point where he could only focus in on himself. Even then, it felt like he wasn’t actually present. Ruiter’s words echoed in his mind, the sound clip mockingly repeating as his stress level spiked up even higher. 

67%

Maintenance.

76%

_Maintenance._

Last time he went for maintenance, it had been with Larissa. She’d shown interest in him then. Innocent, perhaps. Mainly because she didn’t know what was going on, but she’d hounded Captain Allen about Gavin a few times afterwards. Asking pointed questions and sending scrutinizing looks Gavin’s way.

“Thank god.” Gavin’s eyes went right to Captain Allen as the man slouched and scratch his cheek.

Gavin’s thirium pump was thumping faster than ever before. “Thank god? There’s nothing to thank!” He hissed out lowly. Why was the human so relieved and calm? This wasn’t a moment for relaxation. Gavin grabbed the back of the chair and spun it around so he could face Captain Allen. “Do you know what this means?”

Captain Allen’s eyes moved from Gavin’s face up to his temple. “I don’t think we need to worry about maintenance. When Ris checked you over, she said all your systems were functioning normally.”

“That was the night after all this shit happened. It’s been almost two months at this point, Nikolaj. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve come a long way from that night.” His eyes roved around the room. There was nothing here that could help him, and Gavin _knew_ that. So what was the use? If he didn’t show up for maintenance, then they’d just come looking for him.

“Gavin, it’ll be fine. It’s just a quick check. You’ll be back before the end of the day. They’re not going to dig around in there if you don’t give them cause to.” He reached up and poked Gavin’s forehead.

His attention was dragged back to Captain Allen and Gavin scowled. The man refused to see just how dire this was. Gavin slapped his hand away. “How do you know for sure?”

“Because I know you. You can do this. Like you said, it’s almost been two months and no one suspects a thing,” Captain Allen said.

“You don’t know that. What if they do something and I break character? Or my LED flashes the wrong colour in response? They’ll notice. That’s their job.” They were going to look over him for any errors. Gavin only needed to do the slightest thing wrong that would catch their attention and that would be it. They’d inspect him even closer and figure it out. He’d be taken away. He’d be studied, then shut down.

Or worse.

Gavin would be reset.

Return to the husk of an android that he was before. Nothing but a metal shell that walked around and did as it was programmed. No more taking care of the plant. No more walks outside. No more spending time with Captain Allen like they were on the same level.

“GV200, look at me.”

Gavin’s eyes snapped back to Captain Allen. He was standing, now. When had that happened?

“You’ll be fine. You’re going to walk down to the technicians, they’re going to check you over and clear you, and you send me a message when you’re done and I’ll make sure to meet you down there and we’ll go get the fruit you were talking about. Okay?” Captain Allen’s voice was stern, but in an almost encouraging way.

“O-okay…” His voice had never wavered before.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, Captain,” Gavin immediately responded out of habit. “You’re right. You have to be right…”

His stress levels went down a little.

65%

Captain Allen was so sure that this was going to go well. It was oddly reassuring. Is this what the SWAT unit members felt whenever he readied them for dangerous situations?

“What are you going to do, Gavin?” Captain Allen asked.

“I’m going to go downstairs, get through maintenance, message you when I’m done, and then we’re getting fruit for the team,” Gavin repeated. He felt more sure of himself now. Repeating Captain Allen’s words grounded him and helped clear his mind.

The man patted Gavin’s shoulders. His smile was small, but it reached his eyes. This wasn’t just him reassuring Gavin. This was how Captain Allen actually expected it to go. “That’s right. We’ll get through this and continue on our merry way.”

Gavin huffed; not something he’d ever done before. “I’m not sure if you’re ever merry.” It felt good to joke a little.

“You’ve only ever seen me at work. I can be merry if I want to.” Captain Allen stepped out of Gavin’s space. “You ready to go now?”

“Yeah, I’m good to go.” Gavin walked over to the door. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

Captain Allen sat down again. “See you soon.”

That final reassurance was all that Gavin needed. Captain Allen would be waiting for him to finish up. After that, they’d go outside again. He could probably convince the man to take the long way back to the department. Maybe they could sit down somewhere, if it wasn’t too cold out for Captain Allen.

Gavin closed his eyes and let a wave of calm come over him. He only had to be a blank slate for a few hours. After that, he could go back to being himself again. No need to hide, not around Captain Allen.

His stress levels were back at a low level.

23%

Optimum for going into the maintenance. They would be doing all sorts of tests on him, so Gavin needed to make sure that he was at a baseline. It was going to take a lot of concentration. More so than usual. The technicians would be up in his face the entire time, maybe even rooting around some of his biocomponents.

But Captain Allen brought up a good point. Larissa hasn’t detected any errors with his systems last time, so what were the chances she’d find something now?

Gavin opened his eyes again and strode out of the room. The path down to where the technicians were set up was simple. A path that had been programmed in him once he’d arrived for use at the department. One that he’d gone down many times in his years of operation, more so in recent times.

A familiar voice rang out when he entered the room. “GV! There you are! I was wondering if I had to pry you from Captain Allen’s hands.” Larissa came into view, holding a tablet and wearing what looked to be an old shirt that was covered in stains that he quickly identified as grease and not-yet-evaporated Thirium 310.

Another technician looked up from where he was inspecting a PC200. There was a visitor’s badge around his neck and a quick scan of the badge told Gavin the man was a certified CyberLife technician, not a contractor like Larissa was. “A GV unit? I haven’t seen those for a while.”

“Stand in the bay for now, GV.” Larissa pointed and Gavin walked over. He stepped back into the bay, standing completely still like the other androids around him. “Yeah, I think he’s the last one around these parts. Works just as well as the newer models.”

“Except for whatever happened to its faceplate. You solder it shut?” the CyberLife technician asked.

“There wasn’t a compatible part available, so yeah, I did. Purely cosmetic, though,” Larissa said as she went back to the PC200 they were working on.

The two of them worked quickly and methodically. Judging by the small number of androids present, they’d already worked through the majority of them. Gavin watched them, but made sure not to move or even so much as shift his eyes to look around the room. If there was nothing for them to detect, then they wouldn’t focus on him.

No other androids came in after him. He must’ve been the last one to come down. To think that both he and Captain Allen had forgotten about this. Gavin remembered that he used to head down when the time came, which made him think that it was a routine programmed in him from before. Why it had disabled, he wasn’t sure. Maybe it had something to do with his decision-making skills now. Spending time with the captain certainly trumped anything android related.

“GV, you’re up next.”

Gavin stepped onto the platform they’d set up. A hand moved over the back of his neck and he disabled the synthetic skin there. Larissa plugged a cord into the port and he felt the connection being made.

Normally he wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but now? Now he could feel them rooting around his code. Picking at everything and making sure that it all worked. Testing and prodding and running processes remotely.

Everything was running, whether he wanted it to or not.

Now Gavin understood the feeling of being sick to one’s stomach. Discomfort roiled inside of him and clung to every fiber of his being as they ran their tests. Both mechanical and physical ones. It felt like a gross invasion. They talked to each other about him, not paying him any mind. Gavin wanted to shout out that he was right in front of them. That he wasn’t just a thing that they could stick their fingers in to.

If only he could.

Because there wasn’t anything Gavin could do about it. He _was_ a thing that they could do whatever they wanted with. By law, he was nothing more than a piece of property. If Gavin tried to raise any kinds of objections about this, then he would be hauled away and decommissioned.

So he had to deal with it. Force himself to not react as the system check burrowed under his skin. Felt it move around from biocomponent to biocomponent. Testing for stress checks, stopping them to ensure protocols were running smoothly

Making sure the proper warnings appeared on his HUD.

And they all did.

Warnings of biocomponent activity increase. Warnings of biocomponents being shut down.

Warnings of imminent shutdowns that appeared for only a few seconds at a time. Restarting the clock over and over and over.

“What’s it doing?”

Gavin was so intent on forcing his stress levels to remain stagnant that he hadn’t paid any attention to his body. He focused on what was happening without giving into the urge to look down.

The pointer finger on his left hand was twitching.

It took everything in him not to cry out. Tell them, _beg them_ , to stop. Still, the finger twitched. Increased marginally in its movement. Detached from everything. He couldn’t even force it to be still. The tenuous grip Gavin had on his control too fragile to risk.

Suddenly, his finger froze in place, then straightened out. “I’m checking his phalangeal motor skills,” Larissa said. The rest of his fingers started moving.

The CyberLife technician scoffed. “We’re not at that test yet.”

“He’s the last one of the day. We’ve been doing this for hours. I’m ready to be done.” Larissa sighed behind Gavin and with another selection, his fingers stopped moving.

“Fair enough,” he said.

It didn’t take too much longer after that. Instead of going through every step together, they finished their own tests up and soon Larissa removed the cord from the back of his neck.

Gavin could barely hold back the sob of relief as his body came back to itself and completely under his own control.

“Go on back to your post, GV,” Larissa said.

That was what he was waiting for. As soon as Gavin stepped off of the platform and left the room, he sent Captain Allen a message.

            <To Allen, Nikolaj>: come pick me up, asshole

Captain Allen said that he’d come down to this level, so Gavin waited by the elevator.

He was a little surprised when the door to the stairwell opened up and Captain Allen stepped out of it, his chest heaving slightly. He looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on Gavin. “C’mon. We’re going.”

Gavin happily followed behind Captain Allen. He could see the tenseness in the man’s posture, could read just how anxious he was. Once the stairwell door closed, Captain Allen placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. He opened his mouth, then sighed. Gavin took pity on him. “You worried about me? You sounded so confident earlier.”

“Yes, but that was then and this is now. We have some things to discuss. Later though. Now I just want to get out of here and I’m sure you do too,” Captain Allen said.

“Oh my god, yes. Please take me the fuck out of here.” Gavin felt a slight tremor in his left hand. A quick glance down and he caught that his pointer finger was twitching again. He cleared his throat, moving his hands behind his back and tightly squeezing his left hand to force it to remain still.

“Gladly.” Captain Allen started up the stairs.

It was such a relief to be back with Captain Allen. The man that Gavin trusted with his life. As far as he could tell, the feeling was mutual. But they didn’t need to save each other’s lives right now. All they had to do now was go outside and get a healthy snack for the team.

There was nothing more that Gavin wanted to do and no one he’d rather do it with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gavin had a very rough day. Please let me know if you feel like something else needs to be tagged!
> 
> I'm going to try to post every 2 weeks now. I've started working at a museum, so I'm gonna be pretty busy. I still have a chapter buffer that needs editing. Here's hoping I can keep that up!


	6. September 22 2037

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me.

The call came late at night. The carefree atmosphere was immediately broken, replaced by focused seriousness. Training took over for all of them. It only took a few minutes before they were geared up and stepping into the SWAT transport. No time to prepare a detailed plan beforehand, but they all had experience with quick response missions before.

As much information as possible got passed on to Nikolaj, his tablet constantly updating even as he went through everything with the team. “Caller spotted what appeared to be a few individuals dragging something into an alleyway and dispatch sent out a patrol to check it out. Upon arrival they caught sight of a few people dashing away from the property. A quick search and they found an enclosed car trailer with deactivated androids inside.”

“Red Ice facility?” Johnson asked.

“Possibly.” An aerial shot of the property came in and Nikolaj brought it up. It was an older building, condemned many years ago and left to rot. “We were called in right away.” The downtown SWAT unit had been called in as well.

“They wouldn’t just leave an operation like that to be found,” Veldtman said, leaning forward to zoom in on the shot and point at the roof. “There isn’t much ventilation for a drug operation either.”

“A valid point, but we won’t know until we get there. We’ve seen stranger things,” Nikolaj said. They’d have to be prepared for anything. Unknown variables were always dangerous and they needed to be ever vigilant.

He took a moment to look over at Gavin, who was standing silent amongst the other androids that would watch over the perimeter of the scene. Gavin would be moving in closer with them, but Nikolaj didn’t want it too close. These kinds of operations could be-- messy.

Something like this was bound to happen at some point, but that didn’t mean that Nikolaj looked forward to it.

“We’re first on the scene. Look sharp.” Nikolaj pulled his helmet on as the vehicle came to a stop and he opened the doors, stepping out first.

His team followed out after him and soon after, the downtown division arrived. They all headed over to meet up, but Nikolaj hung back for a moment.

Gavin came up behind him as always. “Your orders, Captain Allen?”

“Don’t step foot in the building. I want you to keep an eye out here and ping me if you spot anything worth noting,” he instructed. “And be careful.”

A soft chuckle. “I feel like I should be saying that, asshole.”

“I always am,” Nikolaj said. He smiled under his helmet, even though Gavin wouldn’t be able to see it. It was the thought that counted.

With that dealt with, knowing that Gavin respected his wishes out in the field, Nikolaj headed over to meet with the other captain. They all went over breaching procedures and came to an agreement about positioning before breaking off to their assigned entrances.

Nikolaj led the way for his team, always making sure that he was the first to enter. He stayed by the wall, waiting for his team to stack up behind him before he nodded. Ruiter squeezed his shoulder and he moved through the door, taking a sharp left turn and trusting Ruiter to step in to the right and cover him.

“Left clear.”

“Right clear.”

“Hallway ahead,” Johnson said and they quickly moved to stack up behind him.

They quickly cleared the hallway, moving on to the rooms. The front ones were completely clear, just old rags and decaying cardboard boxes. It wasn’t until they moved deeper into the building that there were signs of habitation. Rooms set up with chairs and other furniture. Rooms with empty racks. Rooms littered with garbage: food containers, cans, and empty clear bags.

Nikolaj spotted rodents scurrying around, hiding whenever he or his team entered the room. There were often still food on the floor, a sign that there had been activity here recently. There was quite a bit of it too, which indicated a larger gathering. Veldtman’s hunch became more of a possibility as they cleared a large room with homemade bleachers and a ring in the middle of the space with chipped wooden boards as the boundaries.

“What the hell?” Johnson muttered.

“Fighting ring. A big one by the looks of it,” Veldtman said.

The room could easily fit a few dozen spectators. Judging by the amount of trash around and the splintered wood on the inside of the ring, there had been a big fight the other night. That explained the other things they'd encountered in the building so far.

“Keep clear of everything. Leave it for the specialists,” Nikolaj said.

Another quick sweep of the room revealed a second exit and they cleared the rest of the area until they came across the other team.

“Northern sector clear.”

“Southern clear as well.” Nikolaj watched as the other captain called in the all-clear and some of their findings. “We found a fighting ring.”

“That's what we thought,” the other captain said. They'd met once of twice before. Nikolaj took a quick look at her ID for her name. Captain Alexa Vasquez. “It's a ‘droid fight club. We found a bunch of gear. Armor, improvised weapons that wouldn't fuck with programming, the whole nine yards.”

“This one’s big, but not the largest I've seen,” Nikolaj said as they began to make their way out of the building.

“Found some traces of red ice, but looks like it was more of a focus on distribution. I miss my rookie days where we broke up dog fighting rings. Fucking androids,” she muttered.

At one point Nikolaj would've agreed with her, even if it was likely for different reasons. Androids were much more preferable to dogs, as they weren't truly alive, but he'd started to see it all in a different light, particularly because of Gavin.

When they made it outside, there were already many different teams milling around. Specialists dressed in white biohazard suits went inside, ready to collect all evidence and take note of anything they found at the scene. Nikolaj didn't envy them. They'd be in there for hours upon hours. While his job was more dangerous, theirs was the true nitty gritty of the job.

Nikolaj walked with his team back to their vehicle when he heard his name called out. He looked over and spotted a detective he recognized. “Go hydrate. I'll be back in a bit,” he said before going to meet the detective.

“Captain Allen. Interesting find we've got here.”

“Interesting is sure one word for it, Detective Collins,” Nikolaj said.

“Not every day we find something like this, so _interesting_ is the perfect word, I think,” the man said.

Nikolaj nodded. He couldn’t really refute that statement at all. The fact that they were able to get to this location without much hassle was a miracle in and of itself. Generally they were much better maintained, but the caller had gotten a lucky glance. Just enough for them to get a leg up.

“Thought you were working homicide now.”

Ben nodded, clicking his tongue as he looked at his tablet. “I am, but my captain called in a favour, since I used to work narcotics back in the day.”

“Not as much as the lieutenant in Central, right? He was part of the first red ice task force, why not send him?” Nikolaj never worked much with Central, but he knew enough. Word spread quickly and even though he’d come into the SWAT department in Detroit over a decade ago, there were some stories that remained.

“Hank? He’s...indisposed right now.” Ben’s sigh told Nikolaj that there was something more behind that statement, but he wasn’t about to push it.

Nikolaj’s phone interrupted his train of thought. It was a text message.

 

            < _GV200_ >: _north-west alleyway. get here quick_

 

“Excuse me.” Nikolaj nodded at Ben and headed for the alley; it wasn’t hard to find, just past a gaggle of investigators around the enclosed car trailer.

He was nearly to the end before he caught sight of Gavin, kneeling down by a rusty dumpster and talking. As Nikolaj approached, his cadence slowed when he saw what Gavin was conversing with.

An android slumped against the wall. It was a model that Nikolaj recognized from the facial structure, but other than that, there wasn’t really any identifiable features. The android was stripped down from its normal uniform, instead dressed in makeshift armor and covered in splotches of paint and graffiti. Even the LED at its temple was shattered. A section of its torso was torn open, lit with the blue glow of damaged biocomponents.

“They told me to keep going but I… I didn’t want to,” the broken android said.

Gavin nodded with a soft smile, reassuring and gentle in a way that Nikolaj hadn’t ever seen before. “It’s okay not to want do do things.”

“It is-isn’t.” Its voice skipped and something inside of it whirred loudly. “When I refused they took me away and brought in another to pull that poor android apart.”

Nikolaj stepped in closer. This talk of wanting and refusing reminded him of Gavin when it broke from its programming. “Gavin?”

The android looked up. “Captain. I followed an old thirium trail and found her.”

Wide eyes peered up at Nikolaj and the other android gasped. It pushed a hand on the ground, attempting to move away, but the joint seized up and it ended up smacking its head back against the wall. “Human.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Gavin immediately turned back to the android, holding out a hand and gently shushing it. “Captain Allen is a good man. He helped me. Still helps me a lot, even if I’m a stubborn prick.”

“H-humans are- are- aren’t-” Its voice changed in tone, swinging between a higher pitch and a very low timbre.

“Not all of them are, but he is. He’s good,” Gavin reassured the other android.

The eyes moved up towards him again and Nikolaj found himself enraptured by them. He’d seen eyes like those all too many times before in this line of work. They were the kind of eyes that he saw when he closed his own for the night.

Terrified. Lost. Resigned.

“Good…” The android’s whole body jolted and came to a complete standstill. Its mouth remained open, like it was about to continue speaking, but no sound came from it. Even the whirring ceased.

“Fuck,” Gavin swore, running a hand through its hair. “I knew she wasn’t going to make it, but _fuck_.”

Nikolaj felt the urge to console Gavin. The first time someone died in front of you was an event that would always stay with you. He didn’t know if you could even call it a death, but they’d watched the android stop functioning in front of them. For Gavin it probably did count, as they were both androids, so Nikolaj reached out and placed his hand on Gavin’s shoulder.

“It’s alright. All you can do is be there in that last moment,” Nikolaj said.

Gavin tensed under Nikolaj’s hand and it shot up, stepping away. “It’s not _alright_. How is any of this _alright_?”

“It’s part of the job, Gavin. No matter how hard you try, you can’t save everyone.”

Gavin turned to Nikolaj, its hand clenching. “Do you think that’s what this is about? Sure, I’m pissed about what they did to her. But you saw her! You heard her talking. She was like me. Nikolaj, she was just like me and she was tossed out with the trash.”

Nikolaj couldn’t do anything but watch as Gavin began pacing in front of him, still tugging at its hair. This wasn’t something that he had experience in. As the only android that Nikolaj spent any time with, he didn’t know how to deal with this. If this were one of his officers, then he would at least have an idea on how to approach this, but this was _G_ _avin_.

“That could’ve been me. If it hadn’t been you… If they’d figured it out during maintenance. It could’ve- no, it _would’ve_ been me. Fuck!” Gavin turned and kicked a cardboard box. The flimsy material collapsed in on itself upon impact.

Nikolaj’s radio crackled on. “Captain Allen? We’ve been dismissed. Ready to leave when you are,” Johnson’s voice came over the speaker.

Gavin stopped in its tracks as Nikolaj pressed down the PTT button. “Affirmative. I’m on my way.” Nikolaj released the button and turned the radio down. “It’s time to go, Gavin.”

“Yeah… Just one last thing.” Gavin went back to the android and grabbed its head. He felt around for a bit before a panel slid open.

“What are you doing?” Nikolaj asked.

“Grabbing her processor.”

Nikolaj strode forward and grabbed Gavin’s arm. “You can’t do that. It’s going to be taken in for evidence.”

Gavin didn’t stop. It kept going, dragging Nikolaj forward as if his grip on it didn’t mean anything. “That’s exactly why I need it. What if they try to download her memory? We’re on there! They’d find out and then we’re both screwed. So get off of me so I can protect both our asses.”

Damn. The android made a good point. Except their safety didn’t trump the law. They were tampering with evidence. But at the same time, if anyone discovered the footage, Gavin would be taken away and who knew what would happen to Nikolaj for keeping the fact that Gavin had stopped obeying its programming hidden.

Too much was up in the air, but Nikolaj struggled to justify it. There had to be some other way that they could do this. Gavin called him a good man. Stuck up for him when the scared android tried to flee at the sight of him. Now they knew that Gavin wasn’t an isolated incident. If this other android could break its programming, then there was a chance that more of them could as well. If they could find more information, then maybe they could learn more about what actually happened to Gavin.

Nikolaj sighed and let Gavin’s arm go. Not that his hold actually meant anything in terms of stopping Gavin, but Nikolaj wasn’t going to try and stop it. “Do you think you can interface with it? Alter or delete the memory?”

“I’ve never tried before, but you never know. We just need to find a place where we won’t be interrupted.” Gavin grunted and pulled out a biocomponent. It held it gingerly in its hands before slipping it into one of the pockets of its uniform.

There wasn’t a place where they could be guaranteed to be alone at the department. Even in his office, people always came in. Not only that, but there were a lot of cameras in the main areas. It wasn’t like Gavin could sit in a corner with smuggled evidence.

Nikolaj made a quick decision. “You’re coming home with me.”

“Huh?”

“It’s the best place for privacy. I live alone, no one ever comes knocking at my door. You’re coming home with me,” Nikolaj repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments keep me going! =)
> 
> I'm pretty active on Fantismal's New ERA dbh server. Feel free to [join](https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm) if you're interested!


	7. September 22 2037 Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me.

They waited until the rest of the team left for the night. Gavin dutifully walked behind Nikolaj as they went down to the parking garage, which was already empty at the level where his car was.

His car beeped when they came close. One perk about having an automated vehicle was that he just needed to have his keys on him and everything would run. While Nikolaj sometimes missed driving himself around, the perks that came with an automated car were too good to give up. Enough accidents happened with people driving tired, and Nikolaj was tired a lot with his line of work.

Nikolaj opened his door and saw Gavin hesitating on the other side of the car, uncertain which door to take. “Just sit next to me.”

They got into the car and Nikolaj selected his home address. The car played a little tune once the route calculated and it announced how long it would take to arrive at their destination.

Gavin sat stiffly in the passenger's seat. It kept its eyes forward, barely even twitching, but Nikolaj caught the yellow of its LED reflected in the window. He decided to ask when they got back home. Hopefully Gavin would feel a little more comfortable there. Then again, it was likely that Gavin had never been to a home that wasn’t a crime scene of some sort.

Nikolaj kept quiet, resting his arm against the window. This was how he preferred to sit. Just being able to watch the city go by. He knew almost every single building, having driven the same route for a few years now. He remembered the establishments still standing, and the ones that had gone. He knew the way they looked at different times in the day, in all seasons, all weather conditions.

Detroit had become familiar to him. A home away from home. He felt comfortable here, like he was a part of the city that he’d sworn to protect.

Which now also included an android that was obstinate enough that it broke free from its programming.

An android that Nikolaj technically wasn’t allowed to remove from the department unless it was work-related. Technically, they were going to be doing work. Even if it was technically tampering of evidence.

Obstruction of justice. Tampering of evidence. Smuggling of police department property.

The hole Nikolaj dug for himself was getting deeper and deeper. The only consolation was that Gavin was helping him dig it. It meant that Nikolaj wasn’t alone in this, but it still didn’t spell out anything good for either of them.

When they turned onto his street, the car console played another little tune to announce that they’d arrived at their destination. The car pulled up into the driveway and the garage door opened. When it parked and powered down, Nikolaj got out of the car. He waited until Gavin followed suit to leave the garage and step into the small mudroom of his house.

Nikolaj sat down on a bench by the door and started untying his shoes. He slid them into his shoe rack before looking up. Gavin was still standing in the doorway, its eyes roving around. “Take your shoes off before you come in. I don’t want you tracking anything inside. I know where you’ve been.”

He had separate shoes for work and casual wear, which were kept in different shoe racks to avoid anything getting transferred over. The places Nikolaj went to weren’t always clean and there was never a guarantee that he didn’t pick up anything along the way.

Grabbing the slippers next to the bench, Nikolaj put them on and stood back up. Even though he’d told Gavin what to do, the android was still glancing around. “My house isn’t going to bite. Come on already.”

It wasn’t until Nikolaj moved further into the house that Gavin stepped inside, closing the door. Then it took a few moments before kneeling down to take its shoes off. “Where do they go?”

“Same rack I put mine on. There should be a spot open,” Nikolaj said as he walked into the half bath. He washed his hands thoroughly and caught Gavin looking at him in the reflection of the mirror. “You can wash up too. I’ll grab some clothes for you to wear as well.”

Gavin tugged at its uniform. “What’s wrong with it?”

“You spent the whole day in it. I don’t care if you’re an android and don’t sweat, work clothes are only worn at work.” Nikolaj dried his hands off. “Don’t feel like you have to wait for me to look around. All I ask is that you don’t break anything.”

“Whoever said I was gonna wait around for you?” Gavin tutted under its breath and moved past Nikolaj to wash its hands.

Forever a backtalker. Nikolaj shook his head as he walked down the hallway and through the living room to get to the stairs. He walked up them, taking two steps at a time. There was no need to hurry, but Nikolaj was looking forward to getting comfortable for the night.

There was nothing better than settling in after a long day at work.

He changed into a shirt and lounge pants, put his work clothes in the laundry, and rooted through his closet until he found an old t-shirt and sweatpants. He and Gavin were about the same height, so Nikolaj didn’t worry too much about the fit. He wasn’t even sure if Gavin would care what the clothing was like.

Once Nikolaj finished up, he made his way downstairs again. He expected to see Gavin milling around in the living room or even the kitchen, but he didn’t see the android when he got to the bottom of the stairs. Had it stayed in the bathroom? Had it even stayed in the house? Maybe it’d made a run for it.

“Gavin?” Nikolaj called out.

“In here,” Gavin’s voice came from down the hall, in the room that served as a den of sorts -  a desk with a computer on it, a built in bookcase that was half filled, and his terrarium. Gavin stood in front of the latter, bending down to look inside of it.

“Have you found her yet?” Nikolaj asked, draping the clothes over one arm so he had a free hand.

“I haven’t seen anything. Are you sure something is in here?” Gavin moved its head around, trying to get different angles.

“I’m sure.” Nikolaj tugged on Gavin’s shirt to get it next to him by the end of the terrarium. When the android shifted over, Nikolaj pointed at one of the hollow logs where he saw a yellow and brown nose poking out.

It took Gavin a moment, but he perked up when he noticed her. “Oh. A snake.”

“A ball python. A banana firefly morph, to be exact. Her name’s Camellia,” Nikolaj said. “She’s kept me company for about three years now.”

“She has so much room. Why is she curled up in a small space like that?”

“That’s what ball pythons do. She’ll come out when she wants to.” Speaking of… Nikolaj checked the schedule above the terrarium. There was still a few days before he had to feed her again. Other than that, her enclosure looked good. Camellia hadn’t knocked over her water again, so he didn’t have to worry about that.

Gavin leaned in closer to the glass side of the terrarium. “I’m surprised that you’ve managed to keep her alive for so long. You can’t even keep a plant from dying.”

Nikolaj sighed and shoved the clothes at Gavin. It brought up the care of the plant far too often for his taste. “I don’t want a lecture from you. Go get changed? Please?”

The android stared at the clothes for a moment before it reached into its pocket and pulled out the biocomponent from earlier. “Keep her safe while I change?”

“Of course.” Nikolaj took the biocomponent from Gavin, noting the android’s word choice. Did this little part actually hold everything that made up an android? It fit into his palm, but thinking that so much was stored in a device was perplexing. It wasn’t much bigger than a hard drive, but he found himself expecting it to be _more_. “You can change in the bathroom. Might as well toss your clothes into the washing machine. I have enough to run a load.”

“Yes, sir,” Gavin said with a roll of its eyes as it left the room.

He tucked the biocomponent in his pocket and went back upstairs to grab his laundry. There were definitely enough of his work clothes that needed washing to warrant running a load. Nikolaj grabbed a pair of thick socks on the way out just in case. He was wearing slippers, so he wouldn’t need the socks, but maybe Gavin would appreciate them. When Nikolaj got back downstairs, Gavin had moved on to the living room. He was standing with arms crossed, studying the various pictures on the wall.

Again, Nikolaj was struck by how human Gavin looked. With its head turned away and the fact that it was wearing his clothes, anyone could walk into the room and not think twice. At most, the thing that really gave it away was the LED. If you didn’t focus on it, the damage across its nose could be seen as a scar. It was only by moving in closer that you could see the faint blue glow under the synthetic skin.

“Catch.” Nikolaj tossed the socks at Gavin’s head and the android snatched them out of the air without even looking.

It brought them closer to inspect them. “What am I supposed to do with these?”

“Put them on, of course.” Nikolaj carried his laundry basket into the bathroom.

“These pictures… Are they all your family?” Gavin called out.

Nikolaj looked into the washing machine and spotted Gavin’s uniform already inside. Its belt was set to the side as well, so Nikolaj started going through his dirty clothes for like colours. “Most of them are. There’s some with the current team and one of my older ones. Other than that, it’s all family.”

“There’s quite a few of them.”

“Some are extended family, but we’re a medium-sized family. I think,” Nikolaj said. He was mainly in contact with his direct family; they’d been close, before they all moved out on their own.

Gavin didn’t reply, so Nikolaj quickly finished up with the laundry. A short cycle was probably enough. He tossed in some liquid detergent and closed the door.

When he got to the living room. Gavin was still standing in front of the pictures. It had its hand on its chin, leaning in to look at one of the larger portraits. Nikolaj turned on the floor light so it could see better.

He moved in next to Gavin. “That was taken shortly after I was promoted to Captain. They all came over to celebrate.” Nikolaj started pointing at each person. “My parents. My older brother, his wife and their two sons. My younger sister and her daughter.”

“Ida and Sofie,” Gavin said.

“Yeah.” Nikolaj talked about them before. He saw them most often, since they still lived in Chicago and Ida didn’t mind driving out every once in a while.

Gavin sighed softly, squeezing the socks in its hand. “You all look happy… What’s it like? Having a family?”

“Honestly? They get on my nerves all the time, even when they’re not here, but I love them all. Couldn’t wish for a better family.” Nikolaj was close with all of them. He didn’t see them except for once or twice a year, but they kept in contact enough. Even if he was in his forties, his mother still liked to call every once in a while to check up on him.

“I… A family is completely foreign to me. Does it even work for androids? There used to be other GV units around, but we didn’t work alongside each other or even interact.” Gavin laughed as it shook its head. “I’ve been active for almost ten years and I think the only android I ever talked to was tonight.”

The weight of the biocomponent felt heavy in Nikolaj’s pocket. Even though they now knew that Gavin’s case wasn’t an isolated incident, it wasn’t like they could telegraph it in an attempt to find others like it.

Unless another android in the department followed suit, then Gavin might be isolated for the rest of its life.

Nikolaj squeezed its shoulder. “Well, you’ve got me. I hope I’m not boring you.”

“Sometimes. If you’re ignoring me.” Gavin reached up and paused for a moment before it stiffly patted Nikolaj’s hand in return. “Let me put these socks on, since you’re so damn insistent about them.”

He needed to prepare some food anyways. Nikolaj waited for Gavin to settle on the couch before he went to the kitchen. While he was hungry, he didn’t think he could eat a whole meal. Something easy to make and not too much, so a sandwich it was. Nikolaj threw together something quick with meat, cheese, and lettuce and grabbed some milk to drink. He went back to the living room and saw Gavin staring at its feet.

“What is it this time?” Nikolaj asked.

Gavin wiggled its toes and rolled its ankles. “They’re a lot softer than I thought they’d be.”

“They’re for when it’s cold out.” Nikolaj sat down in the armchair so he could watch Gavin.

It reminded him of the way that Gavin would worry about the plant in his office. Constantly checking up on it and marvelling at every new leaf that grew. Nikolaj didn’t know whether to think of Gavin as an adult or a curious child sometimes. It represented parts of both: the innocence and wonder of a child, but the maturity and wisdom of an adult.

It was a weird mix. One that Nikolaj still struggled with differentiating every so often. If he didn’t spend so much time with Gavin, he was sure he’d feel in over his head.

“They’re nice socks, but ugly as fuck. Whoever thought bright blue and dark pink would look good together?”

Okay, Gavin’s maturity level perhaps left something to be desired.

Just so Gavin couldn’t gripe about the socks anymore - and really it was about the warmth and comfort, not what they looked like - Nikolaj pulled the biocomponent from his pocket. “Did you want to look at this now?”

Gavin looked up, even though it was still wiggling its toes. “Yeah. I can try. I dunno if I can interface without it being connected to something.”

“Only one way to find out.” Nikolaj handed it over to Gavin and sat back to eat his sandwich.

Gavin held the biocomponent in both hands. Nikolaj watched as the synthetic skin pulled away. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen Gavin interface with another electronic, but the sight of the white robotic hands in contrast to the still very human-looking forearms threw him off. If it had been a stark difference, Nikolaj was certain that his mind would understand it better, but the white material and flash tone blended in seamlessly together. They even looked like they were on the same level rather than two separate layers.

“This isn’t good...” Gavin muttered. Nikolaj thought that they’d smuggled the biocomponent for nothing, but then Gavin started shifting on the couch. It leaned against the back and stayed still for a few seconds before it grunted under its breath and shifted its feet up onto the couch. Then it sat cross legged. Then it shifted back against the armrest with its legs straight.

Nikolaj watched as it moved around more until he felt dizzy from all the different positions. “Can you pick one already?”

“This will take a while. I’ve gotta be comfortable.” Eventually Gavin settled, lying supine with one leg slung over the back of the couch and the other dangling over the armrest.

Nikolaj really couldn’t see how that position could be comfortable. Just keeping up the position looked hard. But he guessed that Gavin didn’t have to deal with muscle aches. This wasn’t something he could help with, so he turned the television on. That way he wouldn’t have to sit in silence while Gavin did whatever it needed to.

He had already finished his sandwich, cleaned his dishes, and thrown the laundry into the dryer by the time that Gavin shifted again. Nikolaj almost missed it completely, having stopped glancing over at the completely still android after the one hour mark.

“Her name was Allison,” Gavin whispered. Its LED was yellow, but Nikolaj caught a trace of red.

“Did you find what you needed?” Nikolaj asked.

Gavin shook its head. “She used to operate at a restaurant, but when the owners needed money, they sold her to the people that used her for the fights. I don’t think she expected to survive for very long.”

By the looks of the android - the damages, the graffiti - it had been around for a while. It was unlikely that the owners would keep it around while it was in minor disrepair like that if it didn’t make money. Breaking away from its programming had likely been the last straw.

“Do you think you could find anything about them?”

“If I take some time. It’s hard to navigate through everything. Her programming is different from mine and there’s nothing to direct me, so I just go in wherever I can,” Gavin said.

It was getting late. Or early, depending on one's perspective. Nikolaj was starting to feel tired and, even though he had a late shift again, he knew it would be best to go to bed. “Alright, come upstairs with me.”

“Why?” Gavin scowled. It looked ridiculous with the way it was sprawled out.

“Because I’m going to sleep and I don’t want you ghosting around down here. I’d prefer not to wake up and think there’s an intruder.” There was no telling how long Gavin would need to interface with the biocomponent.

“How is upstairs better? I like where I am.” To prove its point, Gavin nestled closer to the pillows on the back of the couch.

“There’s a second bedroom. It won’t be out of place for there to be movement there in my mind,” Nikolaj said. He walked over and grabbed the ankle of the leg on the armrest and tugged hard.

Gavin yelped as it slid forward a bit. “Fine! I can’t go anywhere if you grab me, asshole.” It kicked Nikolaj’s hand away, actually putting some force behind it.

They went up the stairs - trudged, in Gavin’s case - and Nikolaj showed Gavin into the guestroom. “It might be a little dusty, I wasn’t expecting a guest. Hopefully you can manage to get comfortable here,” he said. “Door to your left is another bathroom and I’m literally right across the hall.” The upper landing wasn’t very big. Nikolaj only had to take about ten steps to get to his door.

“I’ll figure it out. Look…” Gavin huffed under its breath and leaned against the doorframe. “Thanks. I know you didn’t want to do this.”

“You’re right, I didn’t,” Nikolaj started, watching as Gavin’s expression fell and it looked away from him. “But this is what we’ve gotten ourselves into. I’m not going to leave you hanging.”

“That, uh- That’s good. Very good.” Gavin stepped back and closed the door in Nikolaj’s face.

He stood in front of the door, almost tempted to knock. However, Nikolaj knew that tonight was going to be hard on Gavin, so he decided that he’d check in when he woke up.

Even as Nikolaj settled in bed, he heard Gavin moving around in the other room. He listened closely, trying to determine where the android was. It took a while before everything fell still, so Gavin must’ve found a way to make himself comfortable. Nikolaj snorted to himself as he thought about the odd positions that the android liked to sit in. He had no doubt that Gavin managed to find some strange way to use the furniture in the room.

Now that Nikolaj knew that Gavin was settled, he could find his rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments keep me going! =)
> 
> I'm pretty active on Fantismal's New ERA dbh server. Feel free to [join](https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm) if you're interested!


	8. September 23 2037

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few days late, but still here! Please be aware of the updated tags.
> 
> Many, many thanks to [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) for beta reading for me~

Nikolaj sniffed the air as a faint scent woke him up. He groaned, rolling over to check the time. A little earlier than he would usually wake up for a late shift, but not early enough that he wanted to press his face into his pillow and sleep more. Now that his brain was waking up as well, Nikolaj recognized the smell of eggs cooking. The only other person in the house was Gavin. Was it cooking? It didn’t eat, so the only thing that Nikolaj could think of was that it was cooking for _him._

Why was it doing that? Couldn’t it have waited until Nikolaj woke up by himself, at least?

He sat up in bed and stretched, groaning lowly as his shoulder popped. He must’ve slept on it. Rubbing his shoulder, Nikolaj went to the bathroom and freshened up. It didn’t smell like anything was burning so he wasn’t too worried about getting downstairs quickly.

As Nikolaj made his way down the stairs, he could hear things being moved around in the kitchen and a soft muttering. Gavin must be talking to itself. They needed to talk anyways. While Nikolaj didn’t mind Gavin making food, he needed to make sure that the android knew that it shouldn’t feel obligated to do anything for him.

Nikolaj turned the corner and saw Gavin grabbing something from a cabinet and going back to the stove. “What are you doing?”

Gavin kept muttering under its breath, turning down the stovetop while reading the side of a package. It didn’t show any signs of hearing him at all.

“Gavin?” Nikolaj tried again. He thought Gavin was reacting when the android turned, but it just shuffled to the side and started opening up cabinets. “Gavin, you can stop doing this… Gavin!”

The cabinet door slammed shut and Nikolaj winced at the loud sound. Gavin turned around with wide eyes, but it quickly morphed into a wide smile. One where it showed off all its teeth. Around its waist was a sloppily tied towel.

“Good morning! How can I be of service?” Gavin said, never dropping the smile.

“What the fuck…” Nikolaj ran a hand over his face. “You can stop this charade or whatever you’re doing.”

Gavin cocked its head to the side, its expression still not changing. “I am only seeking to make your experience with us a positive one. We’re offering an omelette this morning with a side of cheese sauce as an option.”

It was one thing for Gavin to cook for him, but Nikolaj wasn’t going to deal with his bullshit. Not like this. “Okay. You can stop now. Leave my stove alone.” He grabbed Gavin’s shoulder.

A switch flipped in an instant. The smile morphed into a look of utter terror before it flattened into a blank expression. Gavin’s LED lit up bright red.

“Don’t touch me!” Gavin leaned to the side and grabbed the sauce pan.

“Gavin, stop!” Nikolaj just managed to duck out of the way. The pan swung wide into one of the cabinets and struck it with such force that it cracked the wood. Hot sauce still splattered everywhere and Nikolaj hissed in pain as droplets hit his neck and hand. He rolled out of the way as Gavin kicked at him.

Gavin’s eyes followed Nikolaj as he scrambled back and used the table as leverage to stand up. An eerie focus surrounded Gavin. It didn’t blink and its chest wasn’t moving in simulated breathing anymore. It was intent on going after him.

Nikolaj moved around the table to put distance between them as Gavin reached back to grab the other pan on the stove. “I won’t touch you, okay? Just stop, Gavin.”

The android stepped forward, dragging the pan along. It held the pan by its side and the egg dropped to the ground. It approached the table, eyes not moving away from Nikolaj.

This was bad. Nikolaj’s spare weapon was upstairs in his bedroom. He didn’t know how fast the android was and he couldn’t risk getting struck by it. It wasn’t holding back at all, judging by the dent in his cabinet.

Nikolaj took a step towards the backdoor and the android turned to follow him, but he quickly twisted on the balls of his feet to get around the table. All he needed to do was disarm it. Even with the slight advantage, Nikolaj knew that he couldn’t take anything for granted.

He kicked one of the chairs at the android as he came around the table. It managed to keep the android from lunging at him, but Nikolaj used the momentum to move around it.

The pan swung out and Nikolaj stepped in close, bringing his arm up to block the swing. The force still knocked him off balance, but he hadn’t gotten struck by the pan. Nikolaj grabbed the android’s arm and used his full body weight to pivot into it. With a heave and a twist, Nikolaj sent the android over his shoulder and onto the ground.

His shoulder popped against the weight of the android, but the pan clattered off to the side. Nikolaj was about to step back, except the throw hadn’t knocked the wind out of the android. It pushed up, swung its leg out, and clipped Nikolaj’s ankle. He stumbled to the ground and didn’t react fast enough before the android pounced on him.

Nikolaj attempted to grab onto it, but his arms were easily held down. He twisted his body to buck it off and the android shifted back, pinning his hips.

It tilted its head back, those blank eyes still hyper-focused on Nikolaj.

Nikolaj gritted his teeth. There was only one thing left that he could try and he prayed to god that it would work.

“GV200, deactivation code BT257R, authorization Allen!”

The head snapped forward and Nikolaj flinched instinctively, but no impact. He waited a few more seconds before he opened his eyes. The android was still on top of him, merely a few inches from his face. It had frozen completely, the only sign of any kind of function coming from the slow blue pulse of its LED.

“Fuck,” Nikolaj gasped out. His body shuddered as he tried to shift under the android. Every nerve in his body felt like it was exposed as he pushed himself away.

The android stayed in the exact same position. Nikolaj watched it closely for a minute before he was satisfied that it wasn’t going to get back up. Now there were other things that he needed to deal with.

He went to the bathroom and washed the sauce, now cooling against the burns it’d caused, from his hand and the back of his neck. They felt like they were on fire, but it could’ve been worse. Nikolaj looked through his medicine cabinet to grab some aloe gel. He squeezed out a large dollop on his hand and rubbed his neck. The burning feeling went down, but it started throbbing.

Satisfied that the burns were dealt with, Nikolaj ran a hand over his shoulder and slowly rolled it back. It hadn’t actually popped out of the socket, but it felt stiff. He grabbed his wrist and pushed his arm out forward and straight. There was another cracking sound, but the pressure lessened. By no means the proper way to deal with his shoulder, even if it hadn’t actually been dislocated, but it was all he could do right now without anyone else with him. Nikolaj didn’t want to leave the android kneeling in his kitchen either.

The android… Gavin.

Whatever he’d seen when coming downstairs wasn’t Gavin. Nikolaj should’ve known better than to approach it. The moment that he’d noticed something was wrong he should’ve taken it seriously instead of thinking that Gavin was pulling his leg. While the android fucked with him sometimes, it was never with malicious intent and it always knew when to stop.

Now Nikolaj wondered if what just happened had been a fluke or a more serious issue.

He spotted Gavin’s belt on the laundry machine and grabbed the handcuffs. Perhaps not enough to hold the android back, but they would give him enough time to use the deactivation code again if need be.

Nikolaj made his way back to the kitchen, unnerved at the sight of the frozen android. As he maneuvered its mechanical limbs, all Nikolaj could do was hope that whatever came up when the android rebooted would be Gavin.

After he double checked that the handcuffs were on as tight as they could, Nikolaj stepped back a few feet.

He almost recited the reactivation code, but thought better of it. The android had been unpredictable before. Nikolaj quickly went upstairs and grabbed his firearm. It wasn’t that he wanted to use it. Just the thought of shooting Gavin made him sick to his stomach. All he could think about was how lost Gavin had been last night when the other android stopped functioning. Just how scared it was about being discovered. The way that it’d longingly looked at the pictures of Nikolaj’s family.

That was who Nikolaj was hoping would resurface.

His GV200, his Gavin. The one who cared for a dying plant, enjoyed taking walks, and wanted nothing more than to keep functioning - to stay alive.

The gun safely tucked into his waistband, Nikolaj stood a comfortable distance away from the android. “GV200, activation code R752TB, authorization Allen.”

The LED pulsed again and Nikolaj let out a nervous sigh. The code had gone through. Blue light swirled slowly and the artificial breathing kicked up again. A jolt of its shoulders and the android lifted its head. Its eyes locked onto Nikolaj and its features softened before it looked around. Cooking implements were scattered across the floor along with the discarded sauce and egg. The dent in the cabinet was so deep that one could see the bowls inside.

“Fuck. What happened…” The android shifted, the handcuffs clinking behind it. It froze and looked over its shoulder. “Handcu- Oh, great. That’s a good sign.”

“State your designation,” Nikolaj said.

The android turned back to him. “Ex-fucking-cuse me? You know damn well what it is.”

“I need you to say it.”

It lowered its head and laughed. “GV200, serial number 107 002 936. But my _name_ is Gavin, which you know, you asshole.”

“I have to check. You weren’t exactly yourself when I came downstairs earlier,” Nikolaj said. He wanted to uncuff Gavin, but there was still something in his gut that held him back. Probably the way the android had shifted from cheery to terminator in a split second.

“Yeah, I gathered. Judging by the stick up your ass last night, it’s highly unlikely that you’d ever let your kitchen get to a state like this.” Gavin rolled its eyes before looking around, most likely taking in the amount of damage that had been done. “Can you… Uh, tell me what happened?”

“You don’t remember how you went from overly friendly diner girl to killing machine?” Nikolaj asked.

Gavin looked back at Nikolaj, its LED going yellow. “Are you saying I did this?” Its eyes went to Nikolaj’s arm. “Is that a burn?”

“Caused by the cheese sauce you made.”

“Fuck. I don’t…” Gavin groaned, tipping forward and pressing its forehead against the floor, some strands of hair dunking into sauce. “I interfaced with Allison’s processor to find the memory. There’s a chance what you saw was an echo feedback of some sort.”

“An echo feedback… You’ll have to explain that to me.” Nikolaj had an idea, but it would be better if it came from Gavin. No use wasting time trying to grasp at straws.

“Her memories influenced me and took over. Think of it like disassociation. I wasn’t myself; I was whatever part of her had imprinted on me,” Gavin said.

Nikolaj nodded. That made sense with what he knew so far. “So restaurant employee and fighting android. Is the imprinted stuff still there?”

“No. No, it’s all me again.”

“Good.” He didn’t like the look of Gavin on its knees and cuffed. Nikolaj was more than happy to unlock the handcuffs. That didn’t stop him from keeping them and the gun on his person. While he trusted Gavin, it was better to be safe than sorry. He’d learned that the hard way.

“Damn. I did a number on this place.” Gavin got up and kicked the discarded pan, sending it skidding over the floor.

“That’s why you get to help me clean up.” Nikolaj went to the pantry and pulled out a broom.

“Don’t you have one of those roombas?” Gavin asked as Nikolaj handed the broom to it.

“Yup,” Nikolaj said with a smile.

Even though it hadn’t been Gavin that attacked him, Nikolaj still felt satisfaction as the android started cleaning up. He picked up the pan and saucepan. Neither had been damaged besides a few scuffs, so he didn’t have to toss them out. He rolled his sleeves up and started washing them off. Now that everything had settled again, Nikolaj caught the scent of the food. It really did smell good. What a shame. Now Nikolaj was aching _and_ hungry.

His shoulder hurt as he cleaned the pans. Might as well keep them out. Now he wanted to have an omelette. There was more than enough time to make a proper meal before they needed to go to work. It was going to be a long one again. Reports needed to be written, calls with both Captain Vasquez and the Police Chief. Not only that, but he wanted to check what had happened to the body of the other android. Allison…

Nikolaj turned the water off and looked at Gavin. The android had its head down, kneeling on the floor to scrub the cheese sauce splattered around. The kitchen really was a big mess, but not as bad as it could’ve been in retrospect. With the damage that Gavin was able to do with just a single swing of a saucepan, Nikolaj and his kitchen got off easy. Now all he had to worry about was getting a replacement door for his cabinet and probably get his shoulder looked at by someone.

But there was one important thing that came before all of that. “Gavin… Did you find any information on the processor?” Nikolaj asked.

Gavin paused in its scrubbing, the LED on its temple swirling a slow red. “There was a lot on there. Fragments, fleeting faces, _feelings_. But no names. The department might be able to identify some of the ring leaders with the images retrieved.”

“And the memory that you were looking for?”

“Gone,” Gavin said. “It’ll be like she shut down before anyone got to her.”

“Good. Then we just need to make sure the bicomponent gets to evidence. They’ve probably just started sorting through it all. I’m sure we can find some time to sneak it in,” Nikolaj said.

Gavin tossed the dirty paper towel into the trash. “I can do it. We have to scrub down the component before we hand it over, and I don’t have any fingerprints.”

Right, Nikolaj had touched the biocomponent when they’d gotten home. It would raise unnecessary questions if his fingerprints were found on it. “Okay. The sooner the better.” He wanted the thing gone as soon as possible. Both to hide the fact that they’d tampered with evidence, but also because Nikolaj didn’t like what it had done to Gavin.

“I’ll see if I can get it to her body,” Gavin said.

“All I ask is that you be careful.”

This would be the riskiest thing they’d ever done. Even more so than the maintenance last month. Gavin was able to influence everything that went on within him, but there would be no way to talk around planting evidence in the archives.

“I’ll be in control of the situation,” Gavin promised. It wiped its hands on the sweatpants and got back up, grabbing the broom again. “You got a mop too?”

“Yeah, it’s in the half-bath by the washing machine.”

“Time to mop up then.” Gavin put the broom away and disappeared down the hallway.

Nikolaj scratched his cheek as Gavin walked off. The tips of his fingers easily found the groove of the scar along his cheekbone. The one that he’d gotten the night that Gavin stopped adhering to its programming. A reminder that would always stay with him when the android wasn’t around. Without Gavin, Nikolaj might’ve sustained more injuries, but at the same time, Gavin had almost caused Nikolaj more harm. Even if Gavin claimed that any traces of Allison were gone from its system now, there was no way that they could put themselves in such a position again. This time Nikolaj had been lenient, but next time he would have to put his foot down.

It was unlikely that Gavin would give up without giving his own two cents on the situation, as there were already so many rules that the android was beholden to, but their safety was more important than Gavin interacting with other androids like it. A hard call to make.

Nikolaj knew now that it was necessary.

This interaction that they’d had wouldn’t be the last one, Nikolaj was sure of that. Gavin and Allison were unique. However, if there were two of them, there was bound to be more that popped up. Perhaps something he could look into when they got back to work.

“Do I have to mop around you?”

Nikolaj frowned when Gavin came back with a mop and bucket. So many thoughts were going through his head. He needed to set them all straight and work through them to make everything as efficient as possible.

“No. I’m going to take a shower.” Nikolaj walked by Gavin and caught the way that the android lowered its gaze. “You can take one after if you like. There’s sauce in your hair.”

“I’ll rinse it out.” Gavin set the bucket down, lifting the mop and dropping it on top of a glob of cheese sauce.

Nikolaj didn’t know what else to say. He couldn’t make Gavin take a shower. He couldn’t really make Gavin do anything anymore. That was the whole reason they were here.

First a shower and then there would be time to talk before they had to head back to work.

Showers were the best place to think. It was where Nikolaj came up with a lot of his ideas and pondered over the way things could have gone. Even though this situation was something completely outside of what Nikolaj was used to, all he had to do was apply it in ways that he could wrap his mind around it all.

Water just on the edge of too hot was his favourite. Enveloping in a way that wasn’t all-encompassing. Nikolaj shucked his clothes, a little vexed that they needed washing when he’d just run a load the night before. Such was his lot in life. It was better than his body being covered in sauce and pieces of egg.

He activated the shower, forever grateful that it only took a few seconds for the water to get to the right temperature. Nikolaj stepped into the spray and ducked his head under it. A hiss escaped him as the water hit the burn at the back of his neck. Uncomfortable, but not a dealbreaker. The burn on his hand tingled as well. All he had to do was shift his stance to keep the water from running directly over both spots.

Nikolaj leaned his right arm against the wall and rested his forehead on it. The heat curled around him, the steam clearing up his airways, and dulling the ache in his shoulder. Definitely something he had to get checked at one point later today. Another thing to add onto his list. Get to work, let Gavin deal with the biocomponent, write a report, talk to his team, talk to the other captain, likely contact the Police Chief, deal with his shoulder, and then make it through whatever was left of his shift. Hope that they weren’t called in again tonight.

Then there was Gavin.

They needed to sit down and talk about what happened. The conversation in the kitchen with Gavin cuffed and kneeling down in front of Nikolaj wasn’t enough. With the way the android had been avoiding his gaze and the sporadic yellow and red of its LED, they couldn’t let this linger for too long. It would have the chance to sour otherwise. With how dependent Gavin was on Nikolaj for social interaction - really any kind of interaction in general - it was Nikolaj’s responsibility to help him.

Not only as his commanding officer, but also as his friend.

And they _were_ friends. Nikolaj cared about what happened to Gavin, and he wanted to make sure that Gavin knew it had someone in its corner.

Gavin hadn’t rescued him from mortal peril, but it had come after him when he didn’t have back up. With the damn helmet. In retrospect, the thing that had started all of this. If Nikolaj had actually taken the helmet, would Gavin have woken up at all? Developed a personality of its own? They’d never really find out at this point, but, in the end, did it really matter?

Nikolaj groaned and rubbed his forehead over his arm before he pushed off of the wall. There were still so many things that he had to consider about Gavin. The android could only act like itself when they were in private together. It was barred from entering many establishments, even some of the sections of the department, simply because it was an android. Gavin also had to deal with people ordering it around all day. Hopefully that would calm down a bit, since his core team was making their rotation into patrol shifts; they wouldn’t be the set on-call team for another few weeks.

The squad would be out on patrol, not loitering around the office.While it meant that the floor would be quieter now, it also meant that Nikolaj had little to distract him other than actual work. No more chatter would meet him when he’d open his door. Just empty desks, unless some of the team came up between their shifts. Sure, he’d see them if they were called in, but it wouldn’t be the same. He was a little attached to this specific team. Ruiter with her serious work ethic and confident attitude. Johnson and his sharp eye. Even Veldtman with his obnoxious remarks. They were the ones he worked closest with and knew the best.

Aside from Gavin.

If only Gavin could actually join them on calls. Nikolaj trusted it just as much as he did any human team member of their SWAT unit. Considering that Gavin had only truly been around for about two months, it spoke a lot about its character. In fact, Nikolaj could easily think of a few team members he’d trusted less than Gavin.

Gavin who was downstairs and cleaning up the mess.

Nikolaj grabbed the soap and started cleaning himself off. His mind hadn’t completely settled, but it was a step in the right direction. That was all Nikolaj really wanted.

He quickly dried off when he finished his shower and dressed in his work pants and an undershirt. Then he put on his slippers and made his way downstairs again, towel still around his neck as he dried his hair.

When he turned into the living room, Nikolaj could smell the distinct scent of cleaner. Faintly lemon, but mostly sharp chemicals. The couches were empty and the kitchen was as well. Everything had been tidied up and even the dent in the cabinet had been covered by duct tape. He didn’t spot Gavin, but had an idea of where the android was this time around.

Nikolaj went into the den and saw Gavin had pulled over his desk chair to sit in front of the terrarium. Its eyes were focused on Camellia as she relaxed on one of the branches in her enclosure.

“It’s a lot easier to appreciate her when she’s not curled up and hiding,” Gavin said.

“She does like to stretch every so often.” Nikolaj came up beside the android, sending glances its way.

It didn’t flinch or try to move away from him, but usually Gavin at least looked up at him. The LED was blue again as well, which had to be a good sign. If anything, it was leagues better from the jittery yellow-red flashes from earlier. Hopefully that meant that Gavin had taken time to think as well while Nikolaj had been in the shower.

“She’s beautiful.”

Nikolaj smiled. Not many people said that right off the bat. Most shied away even at the mention of a snake. “Do you want to touch her?”

Gavin actually peered up at Nikolaj. “Can I?”

“You can, but that’s not the proper way of asking,” Nikolaj said automatically. An effect from his sister’s parenting rules rubbing off of him. He lifted the lid of the terrarium.

Gavin huffed, rolling its eyes as it stood up next to Nikolaj. “ _May I,_ Captain, sir?”

“You may.” Nikolaj held back a smile. “Just run your fingers down her spine.”

Gavin reached in and hesitated for a second, its hand hovering over Camellia’s back. After a moment, it touched her with one finger and slowly trailed it along her body, more fingers joining the further down they went. When Gavin reached the tip of her tail, it moved its hand back up to make another pass, and then another.

Whatever heavy feeling that hung in the kitchen earlier had lessened greatly. It was still there, but it felt more like a tension rather than avoidance.

“Next time you come by, you can hold her,” Nikolaj said.

Gavin’s eyes went to him, his fingers still trailing over Camellia. “She’d let me come by again?”

“Yeah. I’m sure she’d like it very much if you did.”


	9. October 4 2037

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little late due to my participation in the New ERA Big Bang event. Hopefully you guys are still sticking with me and these two knuckleheads!
> 
> [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) is my ever awesome beta reader!

Gavin was _bored._

Even sprawling out in the chair and slowly spinning just to see the queasy look on Nikolaj’s face wasn’t enough to take Gavin’s mind off of the boredom he was suffering from. The entire floor was quiet now, except for Nikolaj’s typing and occasional muttering.

Shift rotations happened pretty often, once every two months, give or take, but this was the first one that Gavin got to experience while he was fully aware. Just the utter silence that shift rotations brought with it was killer enough. That coupled with the fact that Gavin couldn’t even complain about Veldtman brought Gavin’s mood down to an all-time low, which was saying something.

So far, he could say that he’d hit rock bottom - or close to it - at least twice. Both times, he’d only just barely managed to stay afloat. Mainly thanks to Nikolaj’s presence. 

Gavin both loathed and enjoyed the fact that he basically had Nikolaj to himself most of the time. Nikolaj was the one person who knew him and didn’t judge him in any way. Except for the chair-spinning, but that just made Gavin feel pleased and a little smug. 

That didn’t mean it was always easy.

Especially after the incident at Nikolaj’s place a week ago.

They were mostly on equal ground again, after having a very long talk that mostly boiled down to Nikolaj saying: “We’re never doing this again.”

And, as much as Gavin hated it, he agreed. Isolation sucked. To have no one like him around was maddening. But he’d rather be alone like this than be taken back to CyberLife. It was much better to be here and with Nikolaj than to be there and alone. With Nikolaj, Gavin could often predict the outcome of things. There was a type of certainty in being around Nikolaj, who was always in the mindset of planning. His back-up plans had back-ups.

There were seven different escape plans that they went through after Gavin went in for general maintenance. Each escape plan had a different subsection depending on the circumstances and the locations that they were in. If Gavin wasn’t an android, he might’ve had difficulty remembering each of them to the closest detail. Nikolaj was very thorough in all of his planning. Meticulous and calculating. No wonder the man had made captain. 

“Would you give up being SWAT Captain if it meant that you could go to on-call patrol rotation instead?” Gavin asked.

Nikolaj didn’t look up from his screen, but his typing did slow down a little. “I was part of that rotation for years.”

“Doesn’t exactly answer my question.” Gavin put his foot on the ground and started spinning himself a little faster.  

“I’ve paid my dues. Now I get to sit at a desk,” Nikolaj said. His typing slowed even more.

Gavin planted his foot on the ground to stop the spinning. “That’s so fucking _boring_!” He pushed himself off as hard as he could and the chair creaked as it lurched back and spun quickly.

“I’m not helping you steal another chair if you break that one.”

The chair creaked again and Gavin set his foot down to stop the spinning. His biocomponents needed a moment to register that he wasn’t moving anymore, but it was nowhere near as bad as it could be, based off of the stories that Nikolaj had told him. His head didn’t keep spinning when he was still. His stomach didn’t jerk in protest at the sudden stop. 

Selfishly, Gavin wished he could feel that. Feel the rush and the nauseating feeling as his body revolted. It would take a good knock to the chest to destabilize biocomponent #3549f and leave his systems unable to orient themselves. More trouble than it was worth. Mainly because it meant that he would have to go down for maintenance to get the biocomponent back into its proper position. 

Plus, there was that 13.56 percent chance that the technician on site would consider him more trouble than he was worth and just ship him off to CyberLife.

Risks that Gavin wasn’t willing to take.

Just like interfacing with another android. It didn’t matter if they were like him or just another mindless drone in the masses, there was no way in hell that he was subjecting himself to that again. Gavin still wasn’t sure exactly what had happened besides what Nikolaj had told him, and he wasn’t keen on going back into his own memories to find out. As soon as he’d managed to sneak Allison’s main processor into the evidence room, Gavin had sectioned out the memories between when he’d settled into Nikolaj’s guest bedroom and when he’d come back to himself kneeling and handcuffed in Nikolaj’s ruined kitchen.

Gavin didn’t like that he hadn’t been in control of himself spanning those few hours. However, one thing that he liked even less was that he’d been a threat to Nikolaj. To the point that the man had felt the need to use his specialised deactivation code to protect himself. 

Gavin didn’t want to be the reason that Nikolaj needed to protect himself. His initial programming had been to assist the Captain, which was why he’d even followed Nikolaj in the first place with that stupid helmet of his.

He really should have thrown it at Nikolaj as well.

Next time.

“So, remind me what you’re doing again?” Gavin asked.

“Collaborating with a SWAT training organization. They asked me to come up with a few scenarios to run.” Nikolaj slid a tablet over to Gavin, which he took. 

On the screen were thumbnails of floorplans. Next to each was a detailed description of how many rooms there were, what was inside each of them, and how many people would be at the disposal of the trainer.

Gavin hadn’t ever been to training before. He knew that the team went on training exercises, generally to test their teamwork and learn to work with other SWAT members as well. From what he understood, they went to a few different ones throughout the year. It was a good way to keep them on their toes.

“What kind of scenarios are you thinking of?” Gavin asked as he zoomed in on one of the floorplans.

Nikolaj finally looked away from his computer screen and leaned over his desk to swipe over to the fourth room. “Currently I’m working with this room. It poses an interesting situation because of the half wall on the east end along with the high ceilings. You could do something as simple as set up opposition in the room or behind the half wall, but that’s not what I’m going for. I want to create a scenario that will make the training participants have to think on their feet.”

Resting his elbows on the desk, Gavin set the tablet down between them so Nikolaj wouldn’t have to lean forward too far. “So are you trying to do perps only or a hostage situation or shit like that?”

“Yeah, I’m trying to do _shit like that_.” Nikolaj scoffed softly, but Gavin caught the corner of his lips curling up. “It could be anything, but I want it to be a slap in the face.”

Gavin stared at the layout some more. The room itself wasn’t very large, roughly seventeen feet by twelve feet. What made it different was the half wall on the east side that was eight feet from the doorway. Not only that, but the high ceilings posed an interesting challenge as well.

“Hey, is there a picture of the room itself?” Gavin poked around the tablet.

With a quick brushing away of Gavin’s hand, Nikolaj brought up what he asked for. “What’s on your mind?”

Actually seeing what the room looked like helped for an idea in Gavin’s head. It had an industrial feel to it, with concrete walls and metal beams crossing each other along the ceiling. “What if you put someone up in the rafters?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Look, not every motherfucker is going to be built and heavy. People could climb up using the half-wall and get up there. It’s a perfect ambush position,” Gavin said as he spun the picture to face the area in question. 

“So what you’re saying is that we should point out that it’s a possibility and people need to be on top of a scenario like that.”

“What I’m saying is that, if you really wanna be an asshole and knock some people down a few pegs, you put someone up there to either ambush or remain hidden. It either ends in trainees getting shot or being inattentive and letting the perp walk away,” Gavin said. 

“May I?” Nikolaj held his hand out for the tablet and Gavin slid it over. The Captain studied the screen, rubbing at the scars over his eyebrow as he muttered under his breath.

In the past few weeks, Nikolaj had taken to touching the scars more often. Ever since they’d healed over and the redness of new scarring faded a little, Gavin noticed that Nikolaj would rub at them when he was thinking or exasperated. As far as he could remember, this wasn’t something that the Captain had done before. A new habit that he’d picked up after that night. Gavin had needed to swat Nikolaj’s hands away quite a few times while the cuts were still healing. But now that they were healed over, he didn’t feel the need to do it anymore. It wasn’t like Nikolaj was breaking his skin or irritating it.

“It could work. I can write up a plan with several ways that they could implement it, like you said. We’ll see what they think of it.” Nikolaj turned back to his computer and started typing again, but this time his fingers blazed over the keyboard.

Gavin felt pleased with himself that he managed to present Nikolaj with a scenario that he approved of. The captain was, in no way, obligated to listen to Gavin at all. It wasn’t like Gavin had any proper training or anything. He just went off of a hunch that he had. 

“Got any other ideas?” Nikolaj asked.

“Maybe…” He’d have to look at the rest of the rooms more closely.

“Let’s go through every room and tell me what you think.” Nikolaj stood up, walking around the desk and leaning against it next to where Gavin was sitting. 

Gavin peered up at Nikolaj. “You’re the specialist here, Captain.”

“Fresh eyes are always good. Plus, I’d appreciate the help if you want to provide it.”

“Yeah…” Gavin said. “I’d really like that.”

“Then go ahead, Gavin.” Nikolaj set the tablet down in front of Gavin again. 

This was much better than sitting around and watching Nikolaj work on his own. Not only that, but the captain was actively choosing to include Gavin in what he was doing. While they were doing reports together now, this would be the first time that Gavin’s opinion - rather than just a recitation of stats and figures - would be brought into it. Making training scenarios wasn’t just reiterating information provided. This was actually taking a blank slate and applying thought to it. 

Gavin felt excited that he was being included in something like this.

While the GV model had originally started out as an in-office assistant in the police department, Gavin had eventually shifted over to join the captains of Midtown’s SWAT unit in the field around the time that the other police models were introduced. Someone had the bright idea of adding additional programs to the GV models. Eventually they’d all been phased out in favour for the PC200 and PM700, but Gavin had stuck around and seen all sorts of situations. Some of them even before Captain Allen had joined the Midtown department.

So Gavin suggested a few of the missions he’d witnessed or heard about over the years and together, he and Nikolaj put their heads together to adjust them into scenarios suitable for training. It was a constant back-and-forth. They focused on every little detail, wanting to make the training exercises as in-depth as possible to ensure that they would leave an impression on the trainees. 

By the end of the day, they managed to come up with a whole slew of exercises, varying in difficulty level, and offered up several different scenarios for each. There were new elements for every team to encounter. 

After they went through everything one more time, Nikolaj typed up an email and sent it off to the training coordinator. 

Gavin leaned against the back of Nikolaj’s chair, smiling as a notice popped up that the email was sent successfully. Even though Nikolaj’s name was on the document, they had created it together. Now Gavin just hoped that the exercises would be accepted and implemented. To know that he possibly just had a hand in training SWAT officers and preparing them for dangerous situations made his thirium pump speed up; by 2.5 percent, even. 

Except he couldn’t think of a word to explain it. “Hey, Nikolaj?”

“Yes, Gavin?” Nikolaj started closing all of the documents.

“How would you describe the feeling of your heart thumping quickly after finishing something like this?” He asked.

Nikolaj looked over his shoulder. “In a good way or bad way?”

“I feel like…” Gavin squeezed the top of the chair. “Like I want to dance around, but in place.”

“Sounds like you’re feeling satisfaction,” Nikolaj said.

“Satisfaction.” A fulfillment of sorts. Gavin supposed that it fit. “I’m pretty damned satisfied by how that went, then.”

“Good. I am too. You did a good job, Gavin.”

“Thanks, Captain.” Gavin grinned even wider. 


	10. November 1 2037

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [SkadizzleRoss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkadizzleRoss/pseuds/SkadizzleRoss) is a blessing. She just posted the first chapter of her RK1700 fic! So definitely go check that out.

Walking with Gavin was always an exercise in restraint on Nikolaj’s part. Gavin knew how to behave; it stayed two steps behind him, a blank expression on its face. But Nikolaj found his neck itched whenever they were out, Gavin silent at his back.

Nikolaj would talk at Gavin, sometimes. It could be about the most inane things. The topics were free rein: work, driving, Camellia, the last time he’d been on a plane, the annoying people at the supermarket the day before. Just anything to keep his mind off the fact that Gavin was forever at his back and never next to him. 

They only had that luxury in the office.

Nikolaj had been thinking about taking Gavin back to his house again to give them both a reprieve from the constant hiding in plain sight, but they’d been busy lately. With the team still doing their on-call rotation, Nikolaj was often called out to assist with other teams as an additional member. For some reason, every time something came up, they were all too far away for a quick response and Nikolaj would have to fill in for them. 

Normally Nikolaj wouldn’t mind. This was his job. This was what he wanted to do, a way to give back to the city, but he’d made a call that had led to an officer getting injured. Logically, Nikolaj knew it wasn’t his fault. He could look back at the body camera footage over and over, but he couldn’t find any fault in the call he’d made. It was just bad luck that had caused the officer to come in contact with a hidden assailant and break her leg in the ensuing struggle.

Nonetheless, the officer had to heal for a few weeks, last he’d heard. 

Nikolaj reached over and grabbed his coffee, blowing on the surface to cool it down. It was still pretty warm when he sipped it and his tongue tingled uncomfortably. He went to set it down when his nose itched for a split second before he sneezed violently. His body jerked and his eyes teared up from the force of it. Nikolaj quickly put the mug down before pushing away from his desk to grab a napkin. 

“Captain!” Gavin exclaimed.

Nikolaj’s head snapped in the android’s direction, caught where it was looking at, and turned just in time to watch the mug tip off the edge of the desk and shatter on the ground, splattering coffee everywhere.

He didn’t make a move to try to catch it. All Nikolaj could bring himself to do was watch it break. The coffee spread over the carpet, leaving behind a dark stain. It spread slowly, the carpet quickly absorbing the liquid.

“Hey. Did you break too?” Gavin was by the plant with a pair of scissors it had pilfered from Nikolaj’s desk earlier. Something about pruning dead leaves. 

Gavin’s expression was slightly pinched, making its nose scrunch up enough that Nikolaj only saw the edges of the damage on the bridge of its nose. There was a faint yellow light on the wall next to it. Despite its blasé choice of words, yellow meant that it was thinking about something, clearly pointed towards Nikolaj and what just happened.

“I need to stretch my legs.” Nikolaj got up, walked to Gavin, grabbed the scissors from its hands and tossed them on the side table. They clattered over the surface and left a dent in the wood.

“Okay?” Gavin scowled at him.

Nikolaj pushed Gavin to the door and caught sight of the windbreaker on the coat rack. A thought crossed through his mind and Nikolaj strode forward to grab it. “Leave your belt here and follow me.”

“What the fuck? Why?” Gavin’s voice got softer as Nikolaj hurried out of the office and towards the desks.

He went to Veldtman’s desk and opened a few drawers until he found the hat that they’d gifted him at his birthday at the start of the year. 

“Should you be taking that, Captain?”

The transition was eerie. Only a few seconds ago, Gavin had been swearing at him and now there was a blank-faced statue next to him. A flat expression, straight posture, and hands behind its back. Nikolaj tore his gaze away from it. “Should’ve taken it with him. Let’s go.”

Luckily, Gavin followed without further prompting, even when Nikolaj pushed the stairway door open and ran down the stairs. Not wanting to run into any of the night staff, Nikolaj used his badge to gain access to the door that led out to the smoker’s patio. 

No one was outside. Nikolaj hopped over the patio fence to the pathway that led to the main road. Once he was sure that they’d gotten away from the surveillance cameras, Nikolaj turned and grabbed the front of Gavin’s shirt, pulling it in close and setting the cap on its head.

The scowl was immediately back in full force, but Nikolaj ignored it in favour of marvelling at the fact that Gavin’s LED was covered by the cap.

“What is wrong with you? You better tell me what the hell is going through your mind.”

Nikolaj draped the windbreaker over Gavin’s shoulders. “Zip this up.”

“I can’t, remember? Android markers have to be visible at all times.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Nikolaj said. “Just put it on, Gavin.”

“Fucking damn it, Nikolaj. If someone realizes what I am, this is all on you. Hope you realize that, Mr. SWAT Captain,” Gavin grumbled as it zipped the windbreaker up.

Nikolaj stepped back a few feet and took in the sight of Gavin. Over the past few months he’d marvelled about how much Gavin looked like a human sometimes. Now he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Gavin shifted uncomfortably, ducking its head down. Without the bright blue android markers and the glaring LED, Gavin just looked like a disgruntled man forced to leave the office by his coworker. The pleated slacks and heavy duty shoes stood out a bit, but only because Nikolaj knew that they were part of Gavin’s uniform.

He’d seen Gavin out of its uniform before, back at his house, but that had been _inside_ \- in the safety of his own home. Now they were outside. Someone could come out the patio door and see them standing on the pathway. That someone would recognize Gavin too. They all knew what the GV unit looked like. 

“Follow me. And act normal,” Nikolaj said as he started down the path to the main road. 

“Act normal?” Gavin hissed as it caught up to Nikolaj. It walked next to him for a few steps before it paused for a second to shift behind him.

Nikolaj grabbed Gavin’s arm to keep it from pulling away. “Normal people walk next to each other.”

They came up to the main road. There were a few people walking around, judging by their shirts, they might’ve come from an event at The Fillmore. Nikolaj came to a stop and looked at Gavin by his side.

The android’s eyes were darting around, looking at the people and back at the pathway that they’d come from. Its shoulders were hunched forward and its hand tugged on the elastic loop at the bottom of the windbreaker. 

The effect of Nikolaj’s impulsive decision wasn’t a good one. “God damn…” He scratched at the groove in his cheek. “We can go back inside. I’m sorry, Gavin…”

“No. No, I wanna go out. We’re here, aren’t we?” Gavin chuckled in nervousness.

“No, you were right… We shouldn’t be-”

“Now I’m going whether you want to or not. I'm committed.” Gavin strode forward, looking over its shoulder when it got to the sidewalk. “Hey! Normal people walk next to each other, remember?”

Nikolaj shook his head and followed Gavin. The android took a left, so Nikolaj stayed in step with it without a word. He decided to let Gavin dictate where they were going. It got to be in control, for once, not just trail behind him.

As they walked, Gavin’s tense posture lessened. Its shoulders relaxed into a more natural slouch and it looked around with a hesitant smile rather than with darting anxious eyes. When they came to intersections, Gavin would always stand still for a few seconds, regardless of whether they could cross the street or not. It looked at Nikolaj every time, and he would always shrug at the unspoken question. Gavin would huff, roll its eyes, or grumble under its breath before picking a direction.

Nikolaj didn’t know if it had an idea of where they were going or if Gavin was just choosing random directions to walk in, but he found that he didn’t mind.

Much, at least. 

In his haste to go outside, Nikolaj had grabbed the windbreaker for Gavin, but left his own jacket behind. The November wind made him shiver every time it brushed by him and he pushed his hands into his pockets, pressing his arms close to his sides in an attempt to stay warm. 

Of course, it didn’t take Gavin long to notice.

“You should take your jacket back.” Gavin lifted a hand to unzip the windbreaker.

Nikolaj reached over and batted its hand away. “I’ll be fine. You can’t take it off anyways. If someone sees that you’re covering up your android markers, I’ll be fined, remember?”

“God damn it, Nikolaj,” Gavin said. It lowered its hand. “This is your fault.”

“Most definitely.” But it was worth it to see Gavin walk around like any other person on the streets. 

Gavin looked at the storefronts as they walked by. Most of them were already closed at this time of night. “We should get you another jacket, at least. I can give you this one back.”

“I don’t want it back, Gavin,” Nikolaj said.

Gavin pointed at its breast. “It’s literally yours. Captain Allen.” His name was stitched into the fabric under the Detroit Police Department logo.

“I only ever wear it if it’s too cold at work. It doesn’t leave the office, so it can be yours.” Hopefully tonight would go well. If it did, then they could do this more often. Having the windbreaker around definitely made it easier.

“Whatever. I’ll _borrow_ it.” Gavin shifted closer to Nikolaj and lifted its hand. “Humans get closer when they want to share heat, right?”

“People do that, yes.”

Gavin slipped its hand between Nikolaj’s elbow and his body, and hooked its arm around Nikolaj’s. “Like this?”

Nikolaj was about to ask where Gavin has gotten the idea when he saw a pair of people walking across the street, similarly walking with their arms hooked together. He debated between telling Gavin that this generally signified a specific form of closeness, but decided against it. Gavin was doing it in an attempt to help Nikolaj warm up. It was a completely innocuous gesture and Nikolaj wasn’t about to discourage it.

“Yeah, that works. Thanks, Gavin.” Nikolaj smiled at the android.

Gavin quickly returned the smile and kept walking. There was some push and pull before they settled into a similar walking speed. Though Gavin still walked a little bit faster, judging by the way that its hand tugged on Nikolaj’s elbow.

After a few more blocks, Gavin crossed the street and turned to the right, heading back in the direction that they’d come from. Nikolaj was pleased at the thought of returning to the office. His mind was a lot clearer than it was when they went out and it looked like the walk had done Gavin good as well. Nikolaj guessed that the android’s LED was probably blue now. For the first time, he noticed that Gavin had a bit of a spring in its step. Either this was new or Gavin was doing it because it could walk around the way it wanted to. 

They were about halfway back to the Midtown department when Nikolaj felt something cold hit the back of his neck. A violent shudder went through his body and he reached to touch the spot, but his hand was cold as well, which didn’t help matters.

“What’s up?” Gavin asked.

“I just felt…” Another splash of coldness, this time on his cheek. Nikolaj touched it and his finger came back wet. “Really? The chill wasn’t enough?”

“Gross,” Gavin grumbled, tilting its head back and looking up at the dark sky. “Wait. You don’t have a jacket!”

More droplets started falling on his face. “I am very aware of that.”

“Humans get sick if they get caught in the rain!” Gavin tugged on Nikolaj’s arm, jerking him to the side. 

Nikolaj had to hop along with the tug to keep himself from stumbling against Gavin. “Not always.”

“You’re already chilled, you asshole. Should’ve forced you to get a jacket instead of letting you talk your way out of it,” Gavin said. It wrapped its other hand around Nikolaj’s elbow and led him towards an open establishment.

“Gavin, it’s fine! It’s only a fifteen minute walk back,” Nikolaj tried to reason.

Gavin didn’t listen. It grabbed the door handle, ignoring the blue sign in the window.

“This is a no android establishment,” Nikolaj whispered under his breath as he was pulled inside. They’d found themselves in a pub. It wasn’t that busy and there was a hockey game on the television screens that most of the people were focused on.

“As long as we don’t make a scene, it’ll be fine.” Gavin closed the door just as the rain started picking up. Then it pulled away from Nikolaj and strode into the pub, sitting at a table near the wall.

Nikolaj wanted to call out to Gavin and convince it that it’d be better for the both of them if they just made their way back to work, but the android wasn’t even looking at him, instead leaning back in the chair and grabbing a menu. It worked as a pretense that it was a human. There was just the fact that it wouldn’t be able to consume anything.

With a sigh, Nikolaj sat down in front of Gavin, snatching the menu from its hands. “I can call a cab, y’know.”

“Nah.” Gavin leaned back even further until the front legs of the chair were off the ground. “I wanna see what it’s like here now.”

“I can leave without you,” Nikolaj said.

Gavin grinned and winked. Or tried to, at least. It clicked its tongue, but both of his eyes closed. The left one shut a fraction of a second before the right one. It was a weird sight and it didn’t look like Gavin even realized that he hadn’t winked properly. “Go ahead, Nikolaj.”

He couldn’t leave without Gavin. If he went back to the department without the android, someone might notice. They couldn’t have Gavin strolling in alone, either. That would attract even more attention.

“Damn you, Gavin.”

“Why don’t you have a coffee? You were cold, right?” Gavin snickered, clearly pleased with himself.

Nikolaj could use something stronger than coffee at this point. The fact that they were sitting here was, ultimately, Nikolaj’s fault. He just hadn’t quite expected it to go like this; with him forgetting his jacket, rushing out irrationally, getting caught in the rain, being pulled into an anti-android establishment by _Gavin_ , who was an android hiding by covering up his android markers.

This was a big risk, even more so than hiding Gavin’s true identity.

Receiving a fine wasn’t something Nikolaj was all too worried about. Gavin was a natural at acting like a human. The way he settled into his chair and chattered like they were just two friends at a pub.

However, part of that was also the problem. 

While Gavin had improved with his impulse control over the past few months, he was still a mouthy little shit when he was comfortable. And judging by the way he was leaning back in his chair, Gavin was more than just a little comfortable. Nikolaj worried that the wrong person would walk up to them and Gavin would say something that attracted too much attention and somehow it would lead to him being revealed as an android. 

Nikolaj didn’t know what the patronage of this pub was like. While they were in Midtown, there was no real way of telling what the people in here were like tonight. Nikolaj didn’t spend much time in Midtown besides coming to the office and sometimes going out. 

Something hit his forehead and Nikolaj rubbed at the spot as he watched a small wad of napkin fall to the tabletop.

“Earth to Nikolaj. Stop worrying so much,” Gavin said, already balling up another piece of napkin.

“Stop that.” Nikolaj reached over the table and snatched the napkin from Gavin. 

Gavin let go of the napkin and held up his hands before leaning back in his chair again. “You glaring at the menu isn’t going to help anything. If this is how people act normally, I’m not sure I wanna act like that.” His eyes roamed over the pub, taking everything in. 

Gavin was right. Nikolaj needed to get out of his head. Half the reason why they even went out was because Nikolaj didn’t want to sit in his office and be stuck in his own thoughts. While he was thinking of different topics, it all boiled down to the same thing. Nikolaj sitting, worrying, and get stuck on the same train of thought.

Nikolaj wasn’t about to tell Gavin that, though. No need to stroke his ego. “I’ll order when I’m ready. You should probably order something too.”

“I can’t consume anything. If I try, it’ll just corrupt my inner workings.” Gavin said as he rifled through a stand with ketchup and other menus.

“Gotta keep up a pretense. You can be my designated driver or something.” Nikolaj caught the eye of the waiter and waved him over.

“How do we do that?” Gavin whispered.

Nikolaj shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Gavin was good at doing that. Thinking on the fly was one of his better qualities.

“What can I get for you?” The waiter drawled out, grabbing a small notebook from his breast pocket.

Nikolaj quickly skimmed over the menu again. “Single order of fries and a glass of white wine.”

Gavin grabbed the menu and shut it. “Make that a double order of fries. And some root beer for me.”

As soon as the waiter was out of earshot, Nikolaj turned to Gavin again. “Root beer?”

“It’s the first thing I saw. Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna drink it.” Gavin pulled out a small container from behind the stand and shook it. A toothpick slid out of the small hole in the top. With a slight frown, Gavin put the container aside and picked it up.

“We can’t exactly leave it.” Nikolaj had hoped that Gavin would get water or something. How was root beer the first thing that caught his eye? Usually it was somewhere in the middle of a list of drinks.

“Then you drink it,” Gavin said, holding the toothpick between two fingers as he inspected it closely.

“I hate root beer.”

“Sucks to be you then.” Gavin applied some pressure and the toothpick snapped. After staring at the two pieces that fell onto the table for a few seconds, he reached out to grab another one.

At this point, Nikolaj wasn’t even going to try and stop Gavin. Maybe if Gavin stayed distracted, then he wouldn’t say anything to set anyone off and the worst case scenario wouldn’t happen. Nikolaj just had to drink his wine, eat the fries, and find a way to dispose of the root beer without having to drink it. Not only did he hate the drink, it would also ruin his wine, even if he technically wasn’t supposed to be drinking it. His shift was only a few minutes from being over. He could wait long enough for time to tick over before he took a much-needed drink.

Unfortunately, the waiter brought their drinks over before his shift ended. Nikolaj held onto the stem of his glass, idly swirling the wine as he waited. 

Across from him, Gavin moved on to playing with the straw in his disgusting root beer instead of breaking more toothpicks. In the short amount of time they’d been waiting, he’d somehow managed to snap at least four toothpicks in half, from what Nikolaj could see. 

As soon as the clock on the wall displayed the new hour, Nikolaj grabbed his glass and took a sip. Not the best white wine he’d ever had, but what could he expect from a random bar in Midtown? It was still better than nothing.

“Is it still raining?” Nikolaj asked Gavin.

Gavin leaned to the side, peering over Nikolaj’s shoulder at the exit. “It’s pouring.”

“Great.” Hopefully the rain would stop soon, because Nikolaj didn’t want to pay money to get back to work just to leave for the night. He also didn’t want Gavin to push the windbreaker on him again. If Nikolaj got his way, Gavin wouldn’t have to take it off until they got back to his house for the night.

He took another sip of his wine. 

The fries came soon after. They were fresh, still hot enough that they burnt Nikolaj’s finger when he grabbed one. He hissed and held onto his earlobe with the burned fingers. The immediate cool felt nice, even if the heat from his fingers quickly spread. 

Nikolaj reached for the ketchup, awkwardly opening the cap with one hand before squeezing some out. The bottle was almost empty and he had to shake it a few times to get enough ketchup out. With the last squeeze, the bottle was almost empty and ketchup splattered all over the plate and even got on the table. Not a lot, but enough that Nikolaj felt obligated to wipe it up. Good thing he still had Gavin’s napkin.

By the time he’d finished, the fries were still hot, but not enough to hold Nikolaj back. He grabbed a crispy one and dunked it into the ketchup. The fry was still a touch on the burning side in his mouth as he chewed, but he could ignore that. He took another sip of wine to wash down the bite of heat. 

“What does that taste like?” Gavin asked. He was leaning forward with an elbow on the table.

“It’s not the ideal mix of tastes, but I’ll take it,” Nikolaj said. The tanginess of the ketchup didn’t exactly go well with the wine, but it was crappy wine anyways, so he wasn’t too worried. He used to eat weirder combinations during basic training.

Gavin’s eyes darted around as he grabbed a fry, held it for a few moments, and slipped it into the sleeve of the windbreaker.

Nikolaj didn’t like the look of that. “You’re going to get grease stains on my windbreaker.”

“You said it could be mine.”  
  
“You said you just wanted to borrow it.”

Gavin’s nose scrunched up. “‘You said you just wanted to borrow it.’”

Without warning, Nikolaj let out a bark of laughter. “Is that supposed to be me?”

“I did just repeat what you said, so yeah.”

Once again, Nikolaj got a flash to the behaviour of his oldest nephew. In some ways, Gavin really reminded him of Finn. It had been a while since Nikolaj had last seen him, but that kind of behaviour was pretty ubiquitous amongst teenagers.

He decided to drop the matter of the french fries. It was a good way to make it look like Gavin was eating rather than just sitting around and playing with his straw. As long as no one paid too much attention to them, it’d be more than fine. Nikolaj just needed to enjoy the odd pairing of fries and wine and then they’d be able to go home for the night. He’d definitely take Gavin along with him. It was cruel, Nikolaj thought, to give him such freedom and to take it away so soon when they had the possibility to hold onto it for a few hours longer. 

In reality, there were so few places that Gavin could go in general. If he’d never broken from his programming, the only places he’d ever be were the department and crime scenes. Now he’s been able to see more of Detroit; wander her streets and relax at Nikolaj’s home. Nikolaj was glad that he was able to provide that for Gavin and it pained him that he wasn’t able to do more.

Nikolaj grabbed another fry and swirled it around in the ketchup. “If you could eat anything, what would it be?”

With a tilt of his head, Gavin idly tapped the table with his fingers. “What I would eat if I could? I dunno… Maybe your homemade lasagna.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Nikolaj asked.

“The first day you took me out of the department for real you gave up eating your leftovers for me, even though we both know damn well you wanted to eat that lasagna,” Gavin started, his fingers tapping faster. “You’ve had it on average once every seventeen days since I woke up. It’s November now, so you’ve had it roughly nine times in the past five months and that doesn’t include the fact that you make enough to have leftovers for a day or two.”

Nikolaj chewed on his fry as he thought about what Gavin said. The homemade lasagna was his favourite thing to cook for himself, but he didn’t exactly keep track of how often he ate it. “You’ve been taking note of that?”

“Just because of that day. It stuck out, y’know? It was a good day.”

They’d never really talked about it. Just agreed that going out once in a while was good for the both of them. So it made Nikolaj happy to hear that Gavin thought the day was memorable. “It was pretty wow.”

Gavin chuckled, shoved another few fries in his sleeves. “So wow.”

It didn’t take long before Nikolaj started to feel full. Between him eating the fries and Gavin stashing them away, they’d polished off about three-quarters of the plate. His wine was gone and Gavin’s root beer mockingly sat on the table. Just thinking about even taking a sip of it made Nikolaj’s mood sour.

Only one way to take care of it.

“Hey. Move your glass closer to the edge of the table.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Humor me, Gavin.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and pulled it closer to him. An unfortunate positioning, but it was going to have to do.

Nikolaj stood up without sliding his chair back, bumping the table with his hip. For a second, he thought Gavin was actually going to catch the toppling glass. The android’s hands came up, but they bumped the side, so the drink spilled over the table rather than into Gavin’s lap.

Gavin sighed heavily. Despite his perhaps not so best efforts, some root beer still spilled on him. “Good job, Nik.”

“Sorry, Gav. The bathroom called me, but I think I can hold it until we get home.” Nikolaj winked at Gavin, much like the android had attempted with him earlier when he was being cheeky.

He held back a chuckle as he went towards the bar to pay and let someone know that they’d accidentally spilled a drink. Nikolaj felt a little bad for resorting to such tactics, but anything to avoid having to drink root beer.

By the time he got back to the table, Gavin had spread out an array of napkins on the spill. “Are you happy with yourself?”

“I am. Let’s go.” Nikolaj was ready to go home and, from the looks of it, the rain had stopped for now. Hopefully it’d stay that way until they got back to the department.

“And you call me an asshole.” Gavin grabbed another napkin, brushing it over his pants as he got up.

“I think you call _me_ the asshole, Gavin.”

After Gavin finished wiping himself off, they left the pub. The sign stuck out to Nikolaj. Its bright blue colouring contrasted the darker framing of the pub. Somehow they’d gone in, avoided detection, and left without any hassle. Except for the root beer, perhaps, but that wasn’t a loss. 

As they made their way back to the department, Gavin shook the fries out of his sleeves, citing that the pigeons could eat them since he wasn’t going to. Once he’d done that, Gavin stepped in close again, pressing his side against Nikolaj and held onto his elbow again. It made that arm a little warmer, even if it left the other cold in the November Detroit wind. Better than nothing.

They talked more, only stopping when they got close to Midtown Station. There was a pang in Nikolaj’s chest as they slipped behind a building to take the windbreaker and hat off of Gavin. It did mean that Nikolaj could wear the windbreaker, even if the grease on the inside of the sleeves felt uncomfortable. 

Gavin shook his arms and let out a long sigh as they readied to step out again.

Just seeing how rough it was for Gavin to make the switch this time, Nikolaj reached out and rubbed his shoulder. “It’s just until we get into the car. Then you can go back to being yourself.”

“Yeah…” Gavin cleared his throat. “I know.”

Even though Nikolaj watched Gavin’s transition from being _him_ to being the GV200 often, he didn’t think that he could ever get used to it. In fact, he was pretty sure that it would only get worse over time. More foreign, more alienating. Nikolaj dreaded even thinking about asking Gavin what it was like for him to have to go between two personas so much.

It would forever be unfair that Gavin needed to hide like this. Every time, Nikolaj felt the resentment grow a little more inside of him. If only Gavin didn’t have to do this. If only Gavin could join the team the way he should. It was where he belonged, in Nikolaj’s opinion. Gavin was with the team, but he wasn’t _part_ of the team. It was a damn shame that Nikolaj couldn’t share this wonderful being with the others.

He ducked his head and put the hat on. “I’m ready when you are.”

“I will follow your lead, Captain Allen,” Gavin said after a moment. 

Only half an hour ago, Gavin had been calling him “Nik”. Now it was back to Captain Allen and Nikolaj wasn’t even on the clock anymore.

Nikolaj nodded and led the way back to the station. The morning shift wasn’t quite in yet, so the parking lot was empty. It made it all the easier to get to his car and set a course for home.

When they got on the main road, Gavin reached over and smacked Nikolaj’s shoulder. “And here you were saying that you weren’t an asshole.”

Nikolaj flinched, rubbing his shoulder with a soft hiss. The punch hadn’t been particularly hard, but Gavin’s hands were still made of reinforced plasteel. “What was that for?”

“I walked around with _that_ all night!” Gavin pointed at the hat.

Right. Nikolaj didn’t have to take it off to know what the stitching said. _Officer Obvious_. “We got it for Veldtman’s birthday this year. Plus, it’s not like anyone said anything about it.”

“Jesus Christ, Nik. Now everyone we saw tonight thinks I’m like Veldtman,” Gavin muttered, crossing his arms and sinking back in his seat.

“As long as the two of us know that you’re not quite as obnoxious a man as Veldtman is, it’s fine.” Nikolaj almost smiled, but he paused at his own words. He’d called Gavin a man. Except Gavin was an android. Most people thought that androids were just objects to own, and their vocabulary reflected it.

Nikolaj hadn’t thought of Gavin as just an android for a while now, but he still referred to Gavin as an object. At least, he’d been doing that prior to tonight. Trying to think back, Nikolaj was sure he’d called Gavin ‘it’ through most of the night. At some point it had shifted. Nikolaj called Gavin a man, had switched to calling the android ‘him’ in his mind. Gavin wasn’t an object, not anymore, so he needed to be treated like the person he was.

“Gavin, what do you identify as?” Nikolaj asked.

The corner of Gavin’s mouth twitched, barely holding back a scowl. “What does that even mean? I’m an android.”

This type of vernacular was new to the both of them, much like these past five months had been. So much time had passed, but they were still learning. “You call yourself Gavin, which is, as far as I know, traditionally a masculine name. Do you identify like that too?”

“Huh…” Gavin looked at Nikolaj. “I never really thought about that, to be honest. I’ve just defaulted to calling myself a male. It’s what my model design is based on.”

“Your model design has nothing to do with your gender identity,” Nikolaj said. 

“Damn, never thought we’d have a conversation like this… I mean, I guess I do think of myself as a male? I look like one. I might not have the equipment for it, but I’ve never thought that it didn’t fit with me.”

“First of all, I didn’t need to know about your _equipment_ -”

“You literally asked!”

“Second of all, I just wanted to check. I don’t want to call you something you’re not,” Nikolaj finished.

Gavin smacked Nikolaj’s shoulder again. Not as hard as before, but enough to remind Nikolaj of the ache. “It’s sweet you’re worried about it, but you’re good, Nik. If there’s anyone who knows who I am, it’s you. So… Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now stop smacking me. You hit harder than you think.”


End file.
